Musical Exploration and Explosion

Today has probably been one of the most intense, exciting and overwhelming days of my entire life. I got up at 6 am, ate breakfast and walked 20 minutes to school up two hills. Then I had German class for an hour and a half and my teacher is awesome! She is kind of young and is so willing to help us and answer our questions, which is great. After the class, I went to practice and warm-up. It took me like 10 minutes to get over the fact that everyone in the freaking building could hear me warm-up and then I was like whatever, everyone else is singing here too. Then I had my very first vocal coaching ever, and let me tell you it was one of the best lessons of my life! My coach was Mr. Tom Elman, and OMG, he blew my musical mind! He talked about things in a way that i had never heard before and it really clicked. Of course he told me I was working way to much, and of course i've heard that a million times, but the way he went about was so simple yet so genius at the same time! The main thing that is going to dramatically change my sound is keeping the vocal tract all lined up, and trying to de-Americanize my speaking and singing voice. I literally got instant results when i changed some of these things, and because of it, i was able to vocalize a high C today! A high C! People this is big for me! I have been a long time sufferer of the high note afobia, its a pretty common mezzo condition, and can only be cured with lots of courage and practice. Also there are so many freaking sopranos here! I know there are a lot out there in the world, but man! I love me some soprano, but i just avoid those that think they are the next Anna Netrebko at 20 years old...anywho, after my life altering lesson, i checked out the lieder collection here, and OMG it is so freaking amazing! I found a ton of books that i would like to get myself, and a ton of awesome rep for my senior recital. After that we ate lunch at this VERY Austrian restaurant, and we had this dish that was dumplings and eggs, and was surprisingly very yummy. After that we went on a historical walking tour in Salzburg, and our guide was this cute little Austrian woman who was very funny. I learned a lot that i didn't know and we went a lot of places that i had never been before. After the like 3 hour tour, we went to dinner at this little Italiano place down the street and it was scrumptious. After that we got our next flavor of eis, erdbeer, which is strawberry, and that one was yummy too! We then headed back to the dorms and now i'm looking forward to a relaxing evening in and going to bed and getting up and doing it all over again! Thanks for all the prayers and love!
Living the Dream,
Lauren Frick