Day 491 and 492: Dr. Tom Albert

If you have read the majority of my blog posts, or have ever heard me talk about the school in person, you have heard me talk about Dr. Thomas Albert. He is the God figure of the school. He knows everything. He has an explanation for everything. He is as wise as an owl mainly because of his age. However, he acts as young and full of life as the rest of us.

Unfortunately, after two years he has announced his retirement. Even though I am devastated and will go into a serious time of grief and mourning after he leaves, he deserves this retirement. The end of this year will mark 42 years for him. Luckily, he will still be involved with SSMT as Artistic Director and Musical Director for at least one of its shows.

To acknowledge Dr. Albert, we are doing some of his favorite musicals including She Loves Me. Also, next summer we are doing another one of his favorites that I can't reveal yet. To work on musicals with a musical director that has such a passion for those shows in particular is such a thrill. Here's to Dr. Albert.

Day 490: The Fabulous Five

Finally, if you take all of the things I've said over the past four blog posts you will reach the end conclusion about the students learning in the musical theater leadership programs here. As a group, we make up the fabulous five. The weekend blog will top off the trend of important people I'm involved with here making the super six, but below is a photo of the fab five since we could never get a photo of the super six for this weekend's post.

Day 489: John

We have another graduate student here this year named John Clanton. I think he's here for his doctorate. However, if that's true, nobody knows what it's for. For all I know, he is really here for his Master's in Musical Theatre Conducting like Cory. No matter what the reason he's here, I'm thrilled he is. He has so many credits and has met so many incredible people including the Queen of England and President George Bush. He got those opportunities because he conducted one of the bands associated with the U.S. Military. He is the assistant musical director for She Loves Me and an overall joy to work with and be around.

Day 488: The Other Golden Girls

If you combine my two previous blog posts, you will get a set of four fabulous people. Cory, Olivia, Catherine, and I refer to ourselves as The Golden Girls. We even have which character we are the most like. Catherine is Dorothy, I'm Sophia, Olivia is Rose, and Cory, without question, is Blanche. Also, we have a group text message whenever we need to contact all of us and we entitle the group message contact, The Golden Girls. Yes, this blog is short, but it's very amusing.

Day 487: Cory

I'm not sure if I have talked about Matthew J. Pool in my blog before. He is an alumnus of SU now because in May he graduated with a Masters in Musical Theater Conducting. To become the new Matthew, we received a new student this semester in that program. His name is Cory Davis. He's very over the top, wild, and quite eccentric. He's the complete opposite of Matthew, but there is something special about him. I'm getting used to him, but I can tell we will be good friends, especially if he stops talking about Beyoncé all the time. Here's a photo of us at Guerilla Theater.

Day 486: The Triumvirate

This year I have the great privilege of welcoming in two new MTAs. For those of you who haven't heard me use that acronym, it stands for Musical Theater Accompanying and therefore the people that are in that major. Humbly speaking, we rule the school and make up the accompanying "holy trinity." We are the triumvirate (even though they are both females and thus according to Dr. Albert doesn't count as one). They are so talented and I love working with them and guiding them into the world of musical theater accompanying with me. Also, they can help balance all of my work. Did I mention that I love it here?

Day 484 and 485: Food Porn

Before you start getting offended or concerned by the title of this blog, you must know that the "food porn" phrase is a very common hashtag and categorical idea of food photography. For those of you who know anything about me, you know that I eat out quite a bit. From waffle house to Perkins to Outback or to Chilis, I am very observant and particular when it comes to the dining experience. I'm especially determined to be served food that looks good enough for me to eat it. I probably get this fondness of food presentation because I watch a lot of Food Network cooking and competition shows. Now, if I ever go to a restaurant and I see a beautiful plate of food, I have to take a photo. Here are some of the delicious meals I've eaten recently.

Day 483: Jazz Piano

Every Friday I have a new type of applied lesson this semester. The title should make it very clear that I'm referring to jazz piano. It's less my style than voice or classical piano, but the conservatory wants to make sure that they include every facet, that could be in my career, as a part of my curriculum. With each week of jazz piano lessons, my mind is blown by the improv geniuses that make up the art of jazz. I have learned so much, and it's only been three or four lessons. My professor, Dr. Larson, has me learning how to read lead sheets that would be found in a real book. He is also teaching me the basics of jazz voice leading and jazz improv. He says all of the things he will teach me during my four semesters of jazz piano. It seems impossible to me, but I'm going to trust my professor and allow myself to learn and appreciate the style of jazz.

Day 482: The Thing

There are several things that make a dorm room truly special, but the thing that means the most to me in my room is the thing that I don't know what it's called. When I come in with my keys, my wallet, change, receipts, etc. I have the perfect thing to hold it all. I used to come in and scatter my necessary items on my desk in a cluttered fashion, but that's no longer the case. My Papa B had a container that has compartments for each item. It's a genius device that I'm thrilled to have as a way to remember him in an organized manner.

Day 481: Guerrilla Theater

Another event that happened last Friday was the first Guerrilla Theater. It is a variety show that is sponsored by Alpha Psi Omega (APO, the Greek Co-ed Theater based service organization on campus). People sign up to perform different acts that range from solos, duets, scenes, poetry reading, dancing, storytelling, and anything else you could think up. Students from the entire conservatory show up at 11 PM to cheer at the top of their lungs with encouragement and support. The craziest act that happened at this first Guerrilla Theater was the reading of a story that one of the APO members wrote in second grade. It sounds dumb, but it was hilarious. After a long day, you think we would be exhausted, but we love it so much that we do more during late night hours performing for our friends. I think I've said it before, but I LOVE IT HERE!

Day 480: Organ Concert

So many things happened this past weekend that it will take a few extra blog posts to write about them all. On Friday evening, I attended my first classical organ concert. The closest thing I can compare it to is watching The Joy of Music with Diane Bish but with live sound. The recital was featuring a guest artist from Belgium and was in the Goodson Chapel/Recital Hall. Like many chapels, the organ is in the balcony, almost in a separate chamber. Pipes emerge from all sides of the chapel and provides great sound. Due to this setup, the audience had to sit on the ground level and a live streaming camera showed the organist on two TV screens but the sound was all around you. The organ isn't the best and doesn't have the fullest or wide varying sound but it is perfect for Baroque music. The artist was performing music that dated before Bach and spanning through time to Bach. It was entitled Orpheus and his Pupils. While it wasn't my favorite type of music, the playing was very solid and a new experience for me. I get so many opportunities to broaden my musical horizons. I LOVE IT HERE.

Day 479: The Clerks

I have already talked about our incredible lead for the fall musical She Loves Me, but this show is filled with principals. All of the main characters are employees of the show's Parfumerie. They have the coolest names: Arpad Lazlo, Latislov Sipos, Georg Nowack, Amalia Balash, Ilona Ritter, Stephen Kodaly, and Mr. Maraczek. All the actors and actresses that play these roles are just as talented as our two leads. They truly make up an amazing cast of clerks and it's thrilling to work with them and see them work every night.

Day 477 and 478: The Golden Girls

For those of you who don't know, my favorite TV show is The Golden Girls. Well, I guess I should be more specific and say that my favorite comedy show is The Golden Girls. My favorite drama is Grey's Anatomy, but I digress (only a fan of The Golden Girls will get that). Anyway, this weekend (the officially date is technically Monday Sept. 14) is the 30th Anniversary of the television series. The show is timeless. I own all the seasons on DVD and claim myself as the ultimate fan. I can quote several episodes, lines, jokes, etc. My favorite character is Sophia. All four ladies just feel like an extra group of grandmas to me. I don't know what the one key element is that makes it such an iconic but it doesn't matter because it's truly a golden gem and will always remind us of the importance of friendship. So with that, thank you for being a friend.

Day 476: The Choreography

As students at Shenandoah Conservatory, we are given so many opportunities, and if we are interested in a leadership challenge, we are usually granted the chance to creatively shine. One of my best friends here is Emily Rafala. She was a part of the band during Marat/Sade, worked with me during SSMT, uses me as her accompanist, and now she is the choreographer for She Loves Me. She is doing a terrific job, but she's not messing around. She doesn't make simple dances and movement just because she's a student; she expects fast paced, energetic motion and does an outstanding job pulling the best work from the company. While there's not much dancing in the show, she takes the little there is and amplifies it leaps and bounds. There's one big number where people dance in a quiet cafe. They dance more and faster in that number than the Russian Dance of The Nutcracker. I'm so proud to be among such talented people. I love it here!

Day 475: Set the Stage

Tonight, the conservatory hosted a banquet entitled setting the stage. The OBT stage was set to the nines with a beautiful evening cafe look. There were great appetizers and an open bar. All of the big wheel faculty attended to promote their departments to sponsoring patrons. We were also giving sneak peeks through speeches or performances of what was going to be included in this year's conservatory performs season. We performed a medley of songs from She Loves Me. A jazz piano major played background music and a fine piano masters student played the Chopin Revolutionary Étude. It was an exquisite evening and a lovely night.

Day 474: The Leads

You can't have a show without two talented people in the leading roles. We have two incredible seniors playing our leading lady and our leading man. They are the perfect she and me for our musical She Loves Me. Their acting and singing is just impeccable. I love being at a school with such incredible performers.

Day 473: The Human Bicycle

Now, in reading the title of this, you are probably thinking that this is one of the random posts I was talking about, but this is actually relevant to the rehearsal process.

We are doing a very avant-garde version of She Loves Me. It is a very minimalist production. There isn't much of a set and what there is of a set, ensemble actors enhance the set by becoming inanimate objects such as doors, hat stands, and you guessed it bicycles.

The top of the show has the shop's errand boy ride onstage on a bicycle. Because of the concept of our production and our brilliant movement director, we were able to turn people into the bike, and then after he gets off the bike, the bike group morph back into people who are window shopping at the store.

This human bike establishes right from the start that this isn't going to be your typical version of She Loves Me. Instead, it will be a stripped down version that really allows the story to come to life in its raw state of innocent truth.

So much creative genius is involved in this production, that all I can say is I LOVE IT HERE!!!

Day 472: Labor Day

In addition to this being labor day, it was the serious blog make-up day. I had gotten about three weeks behind in my blog and was determined to catch up. I had to write from hobbies all the way to back to school's first week. Labor day is supposed to be a day off for everyone, but I used it to do the work that I had gotten too busy to do. I know that catching it all up in one day makes it confusing because you are't sure what day actually happens on what date but most of my posts it doesn't really matter because they are more thoughts of the day and not necessarily what happened that specific day.  However, if you are interested in knowing what date the blog happens, you can use landmarks like this. Sadly, I swore up and down that I wouldn't get behind again, but as I type this I'm updating an entire week. Oh well, at least I'm not waiting till next Labor Day to update it.

Day 470 and 471: Back to Rehearsal

In addition to the thousands of other things that started this past week, rehearsals for the fall musical began. If you haven't read in previous blog posts, our fall musical is She Loves Me. I will spend the next few blogs talking about various aspects of the production. So this weekend post is basically an introduction to that. With each day I will post a rehearsal photo of that aspect. It also will be interrupted occasionally by various posts that seem about as random as the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. And with that, on with the blog.

Day 469: The First Week

I don't know what it was, but today was just a really great day. Today, I finished my first week of school and it was the best first week of school that I've ever had. I can't pinpoint what was so incredible about it, nor can I pinpoint why today feels so extraordinarily special. Honestly, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that it was a great day and a great week. And to that I quote my Papa B. "This is good."

Day 468: Pajamas

After I got my final paycheck for SSMT, I thought I deserved a little treat for myself so I went on my second favorite shopping website ever and found the greatest self gift possible. For those of you who don't know, I'm obsessed with anything related to Playbill. That's the company in charge of making broadway programs and merchandise. I'm definitely not very into buying clothes but when I went browsing on the site I knew I had to have this particular outfit of pajamas. They were covered in playbills for all of these various musicals. I never truly understood what people meant by "you can tell a lot about a person by the way they dress" until I found this outfit. It is loud but it definitely defines my passion and they are very comfortable. Don't you love them?

Day 467: Schedule

I realize that in all of my August posts leading into school, I never talked about what my schedule is and what classes I'm taking. Also, I realize that the reason that I didn't share it is because if I think about it too much it's overwhelming. My schedule is listed below. While it's not listed, my practice, food, and sleep is also meticulously crafted in the schedule.

Monday

9-9:50 Theory

11-12:40 Acting through Song Accompanist

1-4 voice lessons accompanist

7-10:30 Ensemble (Musical rehearsal)

Tuesday

9-9:50 Tap

11-12 voice lesson accompanist

12:30-1:45 conducting

2:00-3:40 ear training

7-10:30 Ensemble (Musical Rehearsal)

Wednesday

9-9:50 Theory

10:30-11 Accompanying voice lesson

11-12:40 Acting Through Song

2-2:50 voice lesson accompanist

3-4 Forum

4-6:30 voice lesson accompanist

7-10:30 Ensemble (musical rehearsal)

Thursday

9-9:50 Tap

11-12 voice lesson accompanist

12:30-1:45 conducting

2:00-3:40 ear training

4:30-6:30 voice lesson accompanist

7-10:30 Ensemble (musical rehearsal)

Friday

9-9:50 Theory

11-12:40 MT Styles Accompanist

3-4 MT Forum Accompanist

7-10:30 Ensemble (Musical Rehearsal)

Day 465 and 466: Welcome Back

There's not much to say about the first couple of days of school because you are really only spending your first class session going over the syllabus and doing reviews of previous semesters. This year was no different: syllabi and review.

However, there were two welcome back events that I got to be a part of that are key for this welcome back post. They were the APO Welcome Back Show and The Conservatory Convocation.

The APO Welcome back show is a comedic concert that is hosted by our Greek Theater society known as Alpha Psi Omega. They take about 25 minutes of showtunes and change the lyrics to explain to the freshmen what to expect at SU and make a humorous show for the upper classmen. It is followed by discussions by the leaders of all the extra curricular clubs at the conservatory. I got the opportunity to accompany the show. It was Harry Potter themed so I even got to wear a cape and use it for coat tails when i made my grand entrance.

I also got to accompany somebody at the Conservatory Convocation. Somebody from each department performs a selection from last year to welcome in the new year. It is followed by an inspiring speaker that encourages you to go and do great things in the upcoming academic year. I have never been so moved by a speaker as I was by the woman that they had at our convocation. Also, sitting in the wings, watching my peers perform was a completely new experience for me. Normally, I'm in the audience cheering or in the hole under the stage, but sitting on the sidelines waiting to go on just gives those butterflies that performers always talk about. The nerves go away when you walk on the stage though and you know that you are being welcomed back by your peers and you are where you are meant to be.

I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!!

Day 464: Cast List

It's the awaited moment. Drum roll please...

The cast list is posted. It's the only time that there is any competition here, but there is no hard feelings or resentment after the posting. We all know that it is a part of theater and there will be even more rejection in the real world. We are all here to learn and getting a part in the show is just a bonus that sometimes happens. Congrats to everyone who was cast this fall. If you weren't, keep your chin up, keep working at your craft, and try again for the spring.

Day 463: Callbacks

Just to clear up any confusion, here is the date timeline for the auditions.

August 26: Audition Prep

August 27: Auditions

August 28: Callback Prep

August 29: Callbacks

August 30: Cast List

The Audition prep is what I was doing to settle in while mom was re-establishing my dorm. Then I had the audition post. For the Callback prep, just read the audition prep post but with callbacks. However, I'll explain a little bit about how callbacks work. You are given musical sides and acting sides for the character(s) you're called back for. A side is a short excerpt of a song or scene that the callback people perform so the judges can visualize you as that character easily. Sometimes, they do multiple pairings of actors to see who works together in appearance and acting style. It must sound tedious, and quite frankly, it is. Although, I love it too much to even notice how tedious it is. Imagine though hearing the same scene and same song over and over and over again, but it's part of the process and I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Day 462: Auditions

I LOVE playing for auditions. I literally get a thrilling high from it. A rush of adrenaline zooms through my body on audition day. It's like surgeons get a high from operating, blood, and saving lives. I get a high from accompanying on the spot and helping people's dreams come true. If you think about it, we are the next important people to the casting people. While the judges, understand that the singer and the accompanist are just meeting and the pianist is usually sight reading, it's helpful to have a good audition accompanist. I think of all my skills, my sight reading and audition accompanying is the best. Part of that is probably because I know so many songs and have so much experience now that it's like I'm not even sight reading.

I can't fully explain what the audition process is like. I'll try, but nothing would be able to convey it as if I were doing one of my in person acting outs of the story. Anyway, each accompanist would work for thirty minutes unless requested by somebody. I worked with so many the day before that I had a lot of requests. However, a lot of people wanted to prepare with me in the holding room before they went in to audition. Most of them, if I hadn't already practiced with them, gave them to one of the other accompanists because they were most likely going to be playing for them. The stage manager, Lizzy (Bless Her), she stayed on top of my schedule and timed out my running back and forth between the audition and the holding rooms. There was serious cardio, lol. She would say that I could run a song with somebody but then I would have to go play so and so's audition. Then I would play a couple more and then go back to do a final runthrough with someone else.

What a thrill to work with such talent helping them get cast by accompanying their audition and at the same time getting experience in doing what you love.

I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!

Day 461: Audition Prep

Accompanists are so blessed to get so much experience when attending this school. At the end of this week there are auditions for the fall plays, The Trojan Women and Romeo and Juliet, and the fall musical, She Loves Me. I offered on the conservatory page to help people prepare for their audition a day in advance for 5 dollars each. So many people took advantage of my offer that I had somebody to work with every half hour from 12:00 to midnight. I did of course allow time for dinner. It was a easy way to earn money and experience. I also applied my business savvy because I included in the cost callback prep if the student got one. It was a great way to get comfortable with those auditioning ahead of time and the people that rehearsed with the accompanists for the audition were a lot more confident and did a lot better. However, you can prepare and prepare but it all really comes down to those three minutes, that one audition, that one chance of a lifetime. How will you prepare for it?

Day 460: Settling In

Well today's blog post is divided into two portions. The Wednesday that I used to get settled back into my dorm and into the school feel can be viewed from my mom's angle and from my angle. 

Mom's angle involved cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. She didn't have much to do because she got so much accomplished when she picked me up from the summer. The main thing she had to do was unload the car and set everything up on my clothes rack, put my domestic items away, unload my bags, etc. I know what you're thinking. Why weren't you there to help? Why did you make mom do all of that hard work by herself when she was already having to deal with the emotional separation between the two of you? Well, you will read in the next post why I couldn't help. I was settling in at the school. 

Day 459: The Return

Today's the day. The car is packed to the roof with clothes and anything you could imagine that a college kid could possibly need is included in the small vehicle. There's a twelve hour ride ahead. I have my crossword puzzles, my music, my book, and the most important thing, my pillow. The departure from Conyers was bittersweet as usual. It's bitter because I know that I won't see my family and my hometown again for five months. However, it is sweet because I know I'll get to see my school family soon and get back to work on the degree and the schooling that I love more than I can possibly say. We drive through the Virginia Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. Beautiful sights unfold before the car and I know we're almost there. I have arrived back to my second home and it's time to settle in again. Luckily, there is no moving.

Day 458: Mom's Birthday

This is a very short blog post that serves two purposes.

1) Happy Birthday MOM!!!!

2) It establishes where we are in what date this actually applies to and what dates surrounding posts therefore apply to. Today would be August 24, 2015.

Day 456 and 457: The Mountains

My Papa B. had two homes: one in Stone Mountain and one in The North Carolina mountains at the border of North Georgia. Even though the Stone Mountain home wasn't in the mountains, I guess he still got the sense of the mountains there. Now that I think about it, the house almost looks like a mountain in its shape, but I digress. I've noticed every time I visit his homes, the cabin in the mountains in particular, it's so peaceful. Just the sounds of birds and crickets chirping, gardens growing, trees hanging over every inch of nature and nothing in the distance except clear horizon. He also would play for two mountain churches while he was alive and whenever he was in the mountains. By mountain church, I mean the kind that has the amount of people of a Sunday school class, more songs then speaking, 7 minute greetings, and short sermons. I had the opportunity to go up there the Sunday before coming back to school and I sensed Papa B. so much. They kept talking about how the closest representation of Mr. Theo was there. He wanted people to experience the peace that the mountains offer and I believe he has his own cabin in Heaven now, but whenever I go to the mountains, I can climb them to get as close to Papa B as possible and know how proud he is that I'm climbing every mountain till I find my dream.

Day 455: THE Book

In the Landrum/Brescia Household, there are two vital books. One is The Good Book and the other is THE Book. The Good Book is obviously The Holy Bible, but the very close runner up in valuable book is the music anthology that we refer to as THE Book. I don't really know too much of the history of how long we have had THE Book in the family, but it was in Papa B.'s care for the longest time, and it has finally been passed down to me. It's old enough that it was around before my mom's birth because once she was born and was a little girl taking piano she played To a Wild Rose out of it. Papa B. always used to play The Swan out of it. It is falling apart especially on the pages that were used a lot. It will be a constant reminder of the musical gift that was passed down from my grandfather because along with The gift, THE Book was passed down and it will stay in the family forever.

Day 454: Yahtzee!

Mom doesn't really like to play games, but luckily, while I was home I found a game that she loves to play and another way to keep us connected while I'm here. The name of the game as you can probably guess from the title is Yahtzee! For those of you who don't know, it's a dice game where you try to roll certain combinations in order to score a lot of points. You're probably wondering how mom and I can play this game from 615 miles away. It's the magic of the iPhone technology. There is an app called Yahtzee with Buddies. It takes Facebook or your email to connect you with other people in a digital gaming world. Therefore, I start a game here and make a turn, and then, it gets sent to mom. Whenever she is able to make her move, she does and then it goes back to me. Thinking about how technology connects us is just mind blowing. Back in the day that Yahtzee came out who would have ever thought that you would one day be able to play a game with somebody 615 miles away. It's mind blowing. Mom always complains that she doesn't win, but she has beaten me occasionally because the whole game is nothing but luck. Whenever, I see that it's my turn to play a game with mom, I get so excited that I just want to yell Yahtzee!

Day 453: Family Time

Last night, my family and I had the first real night together of a family dinner without papa. I mean, my family had gone out occasionally for a birthday, but we had never had a complete meal around the dinner table where grandma cooked, and we had good conversation around the table. The evening was made even more special because our dear friend, Mavine Hyde, was hanging out with us. We had homemade meatloaf, fresh mashed potatoes, pear salad, peas, and million dollar pie. I didn't realize how good the latter was because I was always too scared to try it, but my food horizons have broadened since I was a kid. It was a special time and I was so glad I could experience it before coming back here. Hopefully, we will be able to do it more often and every time I come home to visit.

Day 452: Hobbies Continued

If you haven't read part one of this post, go back a post and read this, so you will understand why I'm randomly typing about my hobbies. 

My second hobby is counted cross-stitching. To all needlework artists: please note: I did not type stamped cross-stitching, embroidery, or needlepoint. They are all very different forms of needlework. Counted cross-stitching, for those of you who don't know, is taking a blank canvas and stitching several Xs in a pre-designed pattern to create beautiful artwork. 

I don't really remember when I got started with it or why, but I'm so grateful that I got into it. I also have to give a shoutout to my cousins Tina and Heather for teaching me how to cross-stitch. Although, I don't think they could've ever imagined how far I would go with it. 

I've made over 80 ornaments, an evening cabin scene, a piece that said "Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace," a beautiful music, peace, and harmony pattern, and a pattern of "His Eye is on the Sparrow." I'm sure I'm leaving some projects out but those are the ones that stick out to me right now. 

I really got good at it during my multiple hospital stays. I couldn't do puzzles because of a lack of room, children's hospitals never have good channels, and mom can only play games so long, so I would bring my stitching and the nurses were always so impressed even though it always interrupted my IV and my oxygen monitor. I also found out that it helps control my tremor. 

So whether it be puzzles or stitching, I took that incredible advice and always have a relaxing hobby after a long, stressful day of creative thrill. I have something to rest my mind and get me into a restful state to sleep to be set to go for the next day of abundant energy.

Day 451: Hobbies

It's me again, and today, which is really labor day but really applies to a long time ago, is the day that I will finally get caught up on my blog.

This is the first in a two part series about my hobbies. One piece of advice I got here last year was to find something to do outside of theater. Those extra side things you enjoy are what is going to keep you sane when the arts get stressful and challenging.

Therefore, my first of two primary hobbies is puzzles. I realize now after I type that, that puzzles is very broad. I should specify that I mean jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles. Every time I go home and I'm in a place where I have the room to work on a puzzle I always do. Sadly, for mom, I refuse to tear them down when I'm done. I can't tell you how many boards of stacked puzzles under the beds at home. If you ever come to my house, you are bound to get the puzzle tour of the house. Even one of the wall art items in my dorm is a puzzle. They really make great artwork, and if they are made well, from a distance, you can't tell they are a puzzle. They just look like a really cool poster.

Every evening, no matter where I am, part of my fall to sleep ritual is doing crossword puzzles on my phone. I turn on my sleep music and do one or two crosswords or until the letters start running together.

Not only do puzzles keep me sane in times of stress, but they also keep my brain sharp. Tune in to part two to find out my other hobby.

Day 449 and 450: Stories

For those of you who know me, you should know that I'm not a particularly large fan of reading. However, over the course of the summer, I noticed that there was a lot of free time during rehearsals and performances, more so than last year. I'm not sure why, but there was a noticeable amount of space that boredom could creep into. I wasn't going to kill my phone battery or completely demolish my brain cells by playing Candy Crush, so I decided to start reading. What I discovered was that if you found something interesting to read about, you could actually enjoy it and learn something in the process. My elders had always told this to me, but I couldn't believe it because I wasn't mature enough to recognize what exactly I wanted to read. Luckily, over the summer, I realized the three topics and/or genres I liked to read: (1) memoirs (2) mysteries (3) anything about musical theater. Upon discovering this, I was able to read about 10 books this summer so far. Some of them include Richard Rodgers memoir, Julie Andrews memoir, Florence Henderson's memoir, two books on the career of Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Enraged Accompanist's Guide to the Perfect Audition, two books on Oklahoma! and The Cat Who Lived High. The last on that list is the 11th in a mystery novel series that my late grandpa got me hooked on. He used to tell me I should read more, and he knew I liked mysteries as a kid so suggested The Cat Who... series. Its a collection of 29 novels by Lillian Jackson Braun. While they are mysteries, they replace the suspenseful drama with witty, playful humor, but still keeping you engaged in the story. I cherish them, especially because of the memory of the man who introduced me to them. Before he passed, he gave quite a few of the ones he owned to me (he always kept them in his car). While I read all of mine electronically on my iPad's Kindle app, I will always treasure those stories. Now that I have discovered the magic of reading and know what books I like, I will read stories forever.

Day 448: Home Food

I love Winchester. Don't get me wrong. However, when it comes to food, the city is missing some key staples that can be found primarily in southeastern states. I'm sure you are already thinking Chic-fil-a is one that we are missing but we are lucky enough to still have that. Thank goodness. There are many places though I can only eat in conyers and while I was home I had to make sure I ate at them before I returned. A few included: Zaxbys, Moes, Krystal, O'Charley's, Milanos, Sonnys, Frontera, and Captain Ds. I was able to eat at most of these. I was very excited that I also got to eat at the fast food restaurant with the best fries that we don't have here. I'm sure you know that that place is checkers. The only thing that makes the fries better is melted cheese sauce on top. It's fantastic. Unhealthy, yes. But comforting home food goodness.

Day 447: Know the Show

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of knowing the audience. Today, this is a public service announcement to the audience to know the show. Don't assume anything about the show you are going to see, otherwise, you might be sadly disappointed. For example, don't go see The Sound of Music and expect to see a live form of the film. The stage show and film are different in several ways. The same applies for Carousel and other popular movie musicals. If you don't know the basic plot of a show, read about it online or somewhere before you go. That way you aren't trying to absorb to much in your one viewing and you aren't completely confused. I went to the fox theater in Atlanta once to see oklahoma and people were talking all through intermission trying to figure out what had happened during the last fifteen minutes of the first act because they didn't know the show. More recently, people came to see The Wiz, and they were expecting The Wizard of Oz. They are NOT the same. The Wiz, simply is a African-American adaptation of the novel with Motown style music. Dorothy is not white, she doesn't sing Over the Rainbow, and she doesn't wear ruby slippers. Not knowing the show can also result in walkouts. If you go to see a show that has thematic material or language that you are uncomfortable with you should find that out especially if you are taking kids. The theater should put out a warning if it's a show with mature content. Be an informed and proactive audience member. Know the show because if you go and don't know you might go.

Day 446: Know the Audience

This is a "funny" story with a very important message. As I said in yesterday's blog post, this summer some friends and I performed at a retirement village. When we pulled into the very, very nice, elite looking place, we noticed that the sign said that it was a Lutheran retirement village. We were then instructed to go to the chapel because that's where the performance would take place. We weren't aware of the two facts I just stated, and there were then some unusual and slightly inappropriate songs for that particular audience. The one song that stands out is "It's Hard to Speak my Heart" from Parade. During the song, a young man is trying to make his final plea of not guilty stating he didn't rape a young girl like he had been accused of. It also sounds relatively morbid in a reflective way. In the context of the show, it works, but it was not appropriate for a Lutheran audience in a chapel. My friends and I were just trying not to laugh at the odd reactions to this song. All of that to say is know your audience. As performers, I've said the audience is important for us to perform well and to have some interaction. However, before getting to the stage, we have to predict or find out who the audience will be so we will perform material the audience can respond to. For example, when SSMT chooses their shows, they consider the audience by taking polls from them finding out what they want to see, and considering the audience demographic. Therefore, the point of all of this is always know your audience so you don't become embarrassed singing a song about rape in a chapel.

Day 445: Retirement

One of the day off highlights of SSMT 2015 was playing for a cabaret at a nearby retirement village. Several members of the company compiled a small concert of broadway songs to perform for the evening event. I've been through the retirement home and nursing home circuit before because I used to be the adorable little boy who could play the piano that the senior citizens would just eat up. Because of my experience playing for these places, I noticed a few things that surprised me. Normally, a community event happens in the afternoon, but this happened at 7 PM; I thought that's when retirement villages go to bed. Also, there is normally about five people: the awake one, the asleep one, the late one, the one that leaves earlier, and the noisy one. However, none of these were there. It was not only an attentive crowd, but a large one. It taught me something. Even people at a retirement village have a lot of livin to do.

Day 444: What's up, Doc?

The absolute worst part about coming home to visit is having to go see the doctor. It's not that I'm afraid of them or anything; I've just been through so much medical crap over the course of my life that I've seen more doctors in 21 years than one person should have to see in their whole life. Also, I've seen every kind of doctor. I always joke saying I've seen every -ologist except a gynecologist. I know going to the doctor is necessary, it's just boring, and there are so many more exciting things to do then having your vitals taken and sitting in waiting rooms. At least it's over for now, and it won't be until December that I have to say what's up doc? (Unless I'm involved in some Bugs Bunny show but I don't foresee that happening).

Day 442 and 443: Conductors

Over the summer, I had the great privilege of working with three incredible conductors. I will only mention two now because I'm saving the third for a separate post for reasons to be discovered. These two conductors were Karen Keating and Matthew J. Pool. The former was the musical director for The Addams Family and The Music Man. Matthew was the musical director for The Wiz and assistant musical director for everything else. They both have completely different styles, but they can get the music to sound great and just the way they want it to be interpreted. Watching them give notes to an orchestra is just incredible because of their attention to detail. Matthew was a masters student and has now graduated but I'm sure I'll work with him again someday. I'll work with KK a lot while I'm at SU and I can't wait to continue learning.