I Told You So X FACTOR!

Hey yall!

Working away lately.. 

I had a rough lesson with my voice teacher last week.  It seems that learning to sing with my larynx lowered took the last 6 months to figure out and NOW, I'm learning how to do that while also singing with my vocal chords together.  #NOTEASY.  I'm really hard on myself and I got really frustrated when my teacher picked me apart on a fave Kelly song when we tried applying the above technique. I'll obviously not figure this out overnight - but I still get SO discouraged when I'm not getting it. Over the weekend in the car I tried jammin to my Kelly.. and trying to sing allll of those songs that I used to hit so well with my Larynx DOWN is NOT EASY and personally, I think I sound like crap. #lifesucks.  Had another panic attack after that happened - while driving. Awesome.

X FACTOR started last week, and HECK YES I'm watching that shiz.  I get both inspired and discouraged when watching it. It makes me wonder, is that person actually good or would my voice teacher say it was terrible? I feel like my judgement on others' singing is so all over the place now.  I watch and listen to these contestants who sing pretty decently, but are THEY singing with their vocal chords together and their larynx down? NOOOO.  And they're getting all this drooling praise from the X Factor judges.. wtf, yo?  I dont know.. Could I have gotten praise like that without the crazy money i'm spending on lessons now? Who knows :(

I've been working with my family in Colombia on a Spanish translation of the Randy Travis / Carrie Underwood song "I Told You So". Now Missy-fied into "Te Lo Dije." Looks like we've finally nailed down the lyrics, and now I've FINALLY fit it to the melody.  Next steps are singing it over and over and over and OVER again till it's in my body like muscle memory.  Voice Teacher wants me to learn this, nail it, and then record it and RELEASE IT! - Cray Cray I knowowww.  We'll see if I crash and burn with this or not.  I'm trying and practicing a ton.

Technically next Wednesday,  Sept. 25th is another Group Performance night (eeeeeeeeeek!) and I have NO idea what I'm singing.

Also, Martuni's is supposed to be that following Monday, Sept. 30th OR Monday, Oct. 7th. My voice teacher wants me to perform and I'm horribly terrified. I REALLY don't want what happened in July to happen again. I've been having more and more of those stage fright panic catatonic episodes. They're happening more frequently, which is NOT good.  I really can't seem to get this under control. 

I also have NO idea what on earth I'd sing at Martuni's! I'm all over the place.. maybe.. 

* When You Say Nothing At All (sang it at group but not at Martuni's yet)
* Who You Are (have NEVER performed this one - scary?)
* Te Lo Dije (too soon?)
* Happy? (Leona Lewis - not sure about this one)
* Stay? (Rihanna, meh.. not crazy about it)
* Almost is Never Enough (Ariana Grande - people around me hate it but I really like it.. meh we'll see)

Thoughts anyone?  Please send any thoughts or ideas!

This Saturday, Sept 21st I have an extra long lesson with voice teacher.  He had brought up recording another song this time (yay!!!!).. He originally thought ADDICTED would be a good one.. but after he picked me apart on it in our last lesson, I may not go with that one.  Perhaps IMPOSSIBLE? People seem to really dig that one when I sing it.. or WHO YOU ARE? Obviouslyyyy music videos would need to be shot alongside the new recording that we pick. 

Anyway.. just getting some updates and progress down on this bad bloggy. 

It's way too late, I have an early art meeting.

Gnite yall ;)

Missy

 

When You Say Nothing At All - Live Cover

Hey all!

I finally got the full song uploaded from last week's performance.  As I've mentioned before, every last Wednesday of the month is a Performance Day. This last performance, my voice teacher and I decided to go with something a bit sweeter... It was OKAY. I was a ding dong and did NOT warm up before singing so it's not by best but hey.. it's alright for a tiny performance day. 

Check it out here: http://youtu.be/iiWhVtEUFK0


And here:




I'll upload the sound clip to Sound Cloud if it doesn't sound horrible.. that room has a solid echo..

I'm currently working on a spanish version of Carrie Underwood's "I Told You So".. my voice teacher wants me to perform that at Martuni's in a few weeks and then he wants to record it and release it! EEEEEK! We'll see how I do :)

Let me know what you think!

Missy

New Music Goodies!

What upppppp y'all!

Got some new goodies in the mail this week!!  Check it out!: 

A MINI RECORDING STUDIO SET!  Complete with Studio Headphones, Recording Mic, Pop Screen, and Sound Booth :)

Ohhhhhhhhh yeahhhh baybeh bayyyyyybeh!!!!!!!

Now all I need to figure out is how to use editing software. I'm between using Cubase or ProTools.. And I'm also going to do all this on a spankin new Music Only laptop.. Recommendations anybody?? #musicnoob

So excited :) 

So I was SUPPOSED to do another 4 song set at Martuni's on Labor Day but unfortunately I'm flying back in from out of town that day.. So now my voice teacher and I are focusing on 2 things:

1) My voice- now that I've learned how to sing with my larynx down, I now need to try and do that with my vocal chords TOGETHER rather than apart. Umm yeah, NOT EASY. I was kicking myself for not figuring it out on the first go.. This will be a long process..

2) figuring out what my SIX SONG SET will be for the lounge gig in September now! Bahhhhhh! Scary.

Right now we have 2 likely ones to be on it:

* Jessie J - Who You Are

* Alison Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All

That last one: When You Say Nothing At All - this is the one my voice teacher wants me to sing at the monthly Group Performance Class this Wednesday, 8/28.   BAH! I wonder if I'll EVER get over this crazy stage fright.

Anyway,

A few new songs I'm considering to add to my cover list:

* Karmin - Acapella

* Ariana Grande - Almost Is Never Enough

Let me know what you think :)

Later!

Missy

Clarity

Hey all!

It's been a while - sorry about that. Been traveling a little bit and working a ton.  

I HAVE been practicing singing AND guitar so no worries, just haven't actually blogged about it.

I did a take of Clarity again but this time in a more professional audio engineering sense - thank you epic voice coach.

Check it out here:  



If the above link didn't work, try here: http://snd.sc/13Dtsvf

Let me know your thoughts! I'm noticing my coach but a slight reverb in there that I'm hearing occasionally throughout the song.  


Anyyyyway,
In the meantime, I'm working on defining a 6 song set for a restaurant / lounge performance coming up - any thoughts you have based on the songs I've sung, please let me know! 

Also, if you have recommendations of songs I should practice and try and cover - please please comment about them and let me know! 

I'm thinking about trying Taylor Swift's RED. I really like the song and it's really current right now. I'm also toying with the idea of trying Sara Bareilles' song BRAVE. I love the message in that one - even though her songs aren't normally my style.

Anyway, until later! Let me know your thoughts on this clip of Clarity! 
I'll be uploading it to YouTube with a NEWER video - since this is a better representation of my voice than the one that's currently on YouTube - that one is me SUPER nervous and it shows.

I've also FINALLY ordered a nice pretty mic that's attached to a semi professional sound booth - so my covers will sound a million times better the more I use it. It's the Editors Keys sl300 Studio Mic Set.  

Next steps are figuring out what software to learn and use :)


Until later :)

Missy

New Loves and New Experiences

Alright.. first and foremost - I have a new love.  She has a beautiful head, neck, and body.. 

hahaha - and she's my spankin new guitar!!!! LOOOOVE her! I traded in my super nice keyboard for a guitar (for tons of reasons, ask me about it later).

She's so beautiful. I'm starting to do lessons online and practicing everyday on top of my regular voice lesson practice. I'm SOOOO excited to learn! I want to be able to play any song that I want to sing, control the accompaniment myself AND me mobile to bring it around and sing wherever I want... Plus, after all that - I'm hoping i'll be able to write my own music.. we shall see :) In the meantime.. double duty practicing for now.. voice + guitar.

Secondly.. I'll finally talk about what I've been up to in the last week.  So I got a PHONE CALL from AMERICAN IDOL. Asking me to come in and audition under a separate group (I was recommended).. I'd get to skip the line and get priority in the audition process - it was also being held at AT&T Park which is a quick walk from my house.. I guess I have no excuse now right?

I decided fine, I'll go - no expectations.. just with the idea of singing at AT&T park.. I've never really had an interest in auditioning in these shows but hey.. if I'm getting a call, get to skip the line, and it's right next to my apartment? OKAY then. 

Had a great session with my amazing voice coach who prepared me for anything and everything. Said he'd be SHOCKED if I didn't make it through to live shows.. but whatever.. I'm not sure that I even really want to do American Idol, it'd be good audition experience regardless. Got there, my name was under the list for Interscope Records.. (umm.. awesome!).. got to sit in the stadium with Ryan Seacrest a few feet away.. he's all hyping the crowd, encouraging us to chase our dreams and that THIS WAS IT.  My anxiety started happening right around there but I had a few people near me that were pretty outgoing and funny, they distracted me and took my mind off of the pressure.   


They called us 8-10 at a time, brought us in front of the first tent where the executive producers sat and waited.  It wasn't a one by one thing, it was a line up of 10 of us in a row.. each of us singing one after the other while staying in line.. and then producers pointing down the row saying "yes, no, no, no, no, yes, no"... CRAZY.

Anyway..long story short.. I did a decent job.. I'd say I did 85% of what I know I can do.. ran out of breath a couple times but hit the big notes without a problem.. they ended up not letting me past the last round because they want to go into a more country angle. No biggie.. it was an amazing experience.

Now back to practicing for Martuni's in a couple weeks! Coach is letting me repeat any song I wan (which will be ALL) and my sole and only focus is to have FUN with the crowd and perform for the AUDIENCE - to not even WORRY about my voice at all.

We'll see how that goes :) 

In the meantime.. voice + guitar time every night..

For Martuni's I'm thinking of doing:

* Clarity
* Impossible
* The Climb? Distance? (haven't decided which)
* Addicted


Thoughts anybody?

Thanks!

Missy

Wasn't Half Bad!

Whew! It's done!

Strangely enough.. I wasn't super nervous before going up there!  Although, there were a couple scary moments.

First off, my voice coach tells me (in front of the huge group) that no one should pick me to go after them, as he wants me to go LAST so wrap it up and finish us off with a bang.  And then he motions hitting a ball with a ball bat.. as in.. I want you to knock it out of the park. Ummm.. what?! NO PRESSURE right??? Psh.. wrong. But somehow I was fine with it. I just sat and eagerly listened to each person go up there and just blow it out of the water.  When it was my turn to go up there, I brought him the sheet music and reminded him to play it a half step lower (since that's how the original song is recorded as well as that's how we've been practicing it).  He tells me that he didn't bring his keyboard in so he can't do that. He'll have to play it higher than usual. (He threw his back out and couldn't carry it in, understandable). But CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!

Anyway.. I sang it.. sang my heart out. Did I suck? I dont think so. Did I kick ass? Meh.. I could have done better..

Here's a snapshot:

I watched the video back and yeah.. It wasn't terrible, wasn't the best I could do. Caveat being that my voice teacher did tell the group that he played it higher than it normally is.. but the group didn't seem to notice. They all really liked it! Yay! :)

Anyway, if my coach thinks the video is good enough - i'll post it. Otherwise I'll need to record it again in the studio.

Seeeee ya!

Missy

Singing Tonight.. Singing Something Creepy.

Yooo!!!

Tonight is group performance class - seems like no biggie but the setting in which you sing is pretty intimidating.  The class of about ~20 or o people all sit on the floor in front you where you're standing at the mic stand and just.. singing.. out loud.. to them - as if it's show and tell and they're all kickin it looking up and watching.. like Reading Time in school.  EEEEEEEEEEEK!

I'm singing a song I've loved for what seems like forever.. nearly 10 years.

It's called Addicted, by my one and only - the fabulous Miss Kelly Clarkson.  Hopefully I do her justice.

Am I nervous? Uh, Yeah. 

However, I'm going to do what my voice coach has been telling me : Visualize myself absolutely rocking it in front of the crowd and hitting every note impeccably. We'll see if it works!

I'm hoping it also helps that I'm doing a song that I absolutely LOVE - it's super creepy and awesome. The idea is that I get into character and have a ton of fun with - we'll see if I can pull through.

The hope is NOT to choke! Will record it and review with my coach to see if it's good enough to post.

OH! And by the way - apparently my ghetto-ass approach to recording myself the other day compleeeeeeeeeeetely changed how I really sound (I thought it was must me)! But my voice coach pointed it out that my engineering really skewed my sound, it made me sound REALLY tinny - which many people confuse as NASALLY-  of which I don't normally sound like. 

I asked him if I should take it down and he said no - leave it up.  But MUCH better videos should be posted soon :)

Stand by!

Wish me luck, guys!!!

Missy

Crap - I did it. #PanicSettingIn

Hey all,

Well.. I FINALLY did it.  I was given a deadline that I had to publish something to the web.  I did what I could and made due with my current set-up (which I can't quite figure out because I'm a ding-dong, so for all you audio engineers that wouldn't mind helping - I'm in desperate need!)

And yes, I'm 1 billion% terrified that I've actually put myself out there. But I guess it's something I need to start getting used to. For cereal, yo.

I downloaded the instrumental track to Clarity and tried singing alongside it.  The track isn't 100% correct, it's missing a measure at the end of the 2nd verse - but whatever, I made due and skipped over it.

I tried messing around with Ableton Live Lite and it was a nightmare - can't figure it out. Might be switching to Pro Tools 10.

Anyway, here's my first try and trying to sing alongside the track as practice for this week:

Can see the video here:  http://youtu.be/d26PjppbzIY

Going to try and embed the video here:




I have another session with my voice coach tomorrow to really practice for my performance on Wednesday.  From there, one more lesson on Sunday morning before my 4 song set performance at the bar on Monday, July 1st - EEEEEEEK! #I'mgonnadie.


This time - I'll FOR SURE be taking a drink BEFORE to calm the nerves.  We'll see if I can make my way through them this time.  Here's hoping!

Anyway, I hope you all like the video. Again, it's just practice, I can do a lot better but I figured I was WAY overdue for posting me ACTUALLY singing.


See ya!

Missy

And FINALLY! Final Four are Chosen..

Finalllllllllllllllly!!!!!!!

After a few days of endless hours of practicing a trillion billion songs, I think I figured out the final four for Martuni's in a few weeks (1 of those will be done in group performance a week from yesterday). 

Being that I had to figure out 4 new songs so quickly, I figured that I had to do a few that I REALLLLY know well.

While my coach may not be thrilled:

- The Climb (Miley Cyrus)

- Distance (Christina Perri)

- Addicted (Kelly Clarkson)

- Because of You (Kelly Clarkson)

The Climb : While this one may be corny, I'm relating to it a TON right now given my journey in music. I don't know it SUPER well so I have a lot of work here.

Distance : Yeah.. A lotttt of work for me here. I found this song 2 hours ago and reallllly liked it.

Addicted : One of KC's from her Breakaway Album, one of my faaavorites that was never a single. Figured this could be fun for maybe getting a little acting in :) The bridge in this song is where I'm struggling, I'll need to focus on that. I run out of breath really fast there.

Because of You : Another from KC's Breakaway Album, a great single that I relate to a ton. There's one line that I need to watch out for - it's pretty up there but I think I can do it.

Anyway, still a ton of work ahead of me.  While I may feel prepared by the time of the performance ( I still have a trillion lyrics to learn - crapppp ), I need to feel comfortable with the music accompaniment. That's where I'm worried.. That's where I.. Am hoping it goes well.

Anyway, it's late. And I am le' tired lol.

Gnite,

Missy

Practice Makes Perfect ...?

I skipped group voice class tonight.. But only so I could practice more to see if I could settle on 4 (group performance in a week, eff my life).

Practiced from 7PM - 10:30PM..

Eugh.

I think I have 2 for sures?? Maybe?

Does anyone have any ideas?!?! Not just from this list but from ANYWHERE????

On the up side.. I watched videos of my fave chic Miss Jennel Garcia.. Man that girl is FIERCE!!! I wish I could perform like her.. AMAZING is an understatement. It inspired me a bit :)

Gnite,

Missy

Karaoke Anyone?

Hey all,

Needless to say it's been a CRAZY few days.  Last Wednesday (6/5) was weekly singing boot camp. That was PAINFUL - i'm such a weakling. For cereal though.  Tons of planks and leg lifts while singing.  Planks and leglifts on their OWN are pretty brutal for me. I just don't have the core to do it.  Anyway.. got through that + had some singing in class.  Unfortunately the night before (last Tuesday night, 6/4) I'd had a pretty rough night.  I decided I finally wanted to play back all my singing from last Monday night @ Martuni's.  Eugh - not good.

I'll be honest, guys.. It wasn't pretty.  I sat and watched it all - and from there I buckled down in tears. I hunched over started bawling over what I had just watched and heard. I completely regretted inviting friends and felt like I had completely embarrassed myself.  Felt like I'm wasting my money and time entirely and that I've now ruined something that was so important to me. Why the hell did I get up there and do that?! I wanted to delete it all and MORESO - i'm pissed because I wanted to finally get to upload GOOD work onto YouTube.  But no. Can't upload any of that. A few things happened (that I've recapped before).. 1) My nerves got to me, my throat closed up as I teared up when standing in front of the mic and that completely stunted my performance and ability to hit the notes as good as I know I can. 2) I was shaking so much that I didn't sing on the mic, I wasn't close enough and clearly sounded off and far away.  EUGHHHHHH. 

So Mad at Myself. I really wanted to showcase and post videos of my performance but in NO way can I do that.  I need to only EVER publish my best - and that certainly wasn't it. 

Then I watched a playback of my last Wednesday performance, where the wrong song started playing and I messed up the first verse?  While yes, I messed up the first verse - the rest of it sounded awesome! I sounded like MYSELF and the way I KNOW I can hit it.  That gave me a bit more of my confidence back but not much.  

Fast forward to my 1:1 lesson with my epic voice coach this past Saturday, 6/8.  Most of the lesson was a lot more talking through my last Monday performance. Embarrassingly enough, I started crying in front of my teacher.  I told him I felt like I'd been wasting my time and that I sounded awful.  He of course told me I was being way too hard on myself and that I wasn't as bad as I am describing it.  He also told me that the way the nerves took over me was what he had expected. Boo.  Anyway, he told me in general that what people were saying was that if I got my nerves under control, I have a pretty big voice to be unleashed.. We'll see about that. 

Next up was the weekend: my boyfriend Alex, our roommate Hank, and our friend Fred and myself all went to a Karaoke Bar in San Francisco on Saturday night (Silver Clouds Karaoke).  I was really scared but they dragged me out to one at around midnight after having had a few drinks :) Luckily, the entire group there was WASTED. Literally, every person who went up to sing at the mic couldn't even get out a word without drunkenly falling over and cracking up. Hank dragged me to the DJ booth and paid CASH for me to get to get up on stage and practice! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD is all I'm thinking. They call my name and I get up there and sing the HECK out of Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes," a favorite of mine.  While I could definitely have done better - having drunk fans ask to get to touch my hand and tell me I was awesome was DEFINITELY a confidence booster.  It made me feel comfortable to practice this again.  Whew :)
See pic below:

I had a ton of fun.. as you can see below:

Next up: Voice Bootcamp tomorrow, and Martuni's Open Mic on Thursday for practice.. cross your fingers for me??


Anyway - sorry for the big post, it'd been a while so I owed you all one.

Wednesday / Thursday post to follow (hopefully).

See yaaaaaaaaaa,

Missy

Not A Happy Camper

Well.. It's been a day since last night's  performance. As this post title clearly says.. I'm not a happy camper. I'm really unhappy with myself and how I performed. 

Was I nervous and anxious? Yes. More so than last Wednesday's performance? No. One could argue less than last Wednesday. However as soon as I walked up to the mic after my name was announced, my nerves got so out of control that they triggered tears (not visible to the audience) and completely choked me up. My nerves totes bitch slapped me in the face. 

I thought starting with Clarity would be smart since it's the song I've rehearsed the most - should be easier for me to open up with that song, right? Negative. FIRST of all : the Rockstar Broadway Musical Princess of the production group ended up going first, right before me. #Awesome. Not. She was absolutely amazing, incredible, takes your breath away, as usual. Which SUCKS for me since I'm following her. She's been taking voice for decades but still - why can't I be that amazing????? :(

Anyway, back to when it was my turn. My voice is so broken and shaky when I talk that I can barely say a solid word without breaking (and that's just during my self intro). So as Clarity starts to be played.. (And yes, the correct version and melody of the song), I open my mouth to start. I'm trembling and cracking so much that I barelyyyyy croak out the first line-completely falling apart the entire first line. Like I said, my nerves totes bitch slapped me.

EUGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! (Picture Tasmanian Devil here).

The next song was I Told You So - which I think I handled slightly better than Clarity since I was a bit more comfortable at this point. I don't think I hit it quite as good as I have before but still better than how I performed Clarity. 

Next was Impossible. Still trembling at this point but the feedback I got was that I hit this one on the head. Another song that I love but was SUPER nervous to sing since since it was one that my coach and I had only minimally rehearsed. This MAY be the only one that gets uploaded to YouTube, however I still need to watch the playback :)

And finally, the last and 4th song was I Knew You Were Trouble. The one my coach and I hadn't rehearsed.. AT ALL.  I felt like I was okay on this one UNTIL i got to the bridge. My coach had added an extra measure of music and left us on 2 different points of the song - #awkward.

So we had to stop and then pick it back up. Hate that.

All in all was it horrid? Probably not. Was it perfect? Did I knock them dead? Unfortunately no. Makes me wonder if I even have what it takes to do this at all. Am I wasting my time and money??

A big thank you to all my friends that came out to support me last night :) I'm sorry for the parts where I sucked :-/.

I promise I CAN do SOOO much better. I think that's my biggest issue, is that i KNOW i can do better. I'm the one getting in my own way and it sucks.

Here's a pic from last night: 

On the bright side, the owner of the bar seemed to take to me and really encouraged me to come back to the bar's standard open mic nights and that I should work with their HOUSE pianist. He even chased me outside as I was getting in the car to introduce me to their pianist for Open Mic Night. I'm thinkin of going weekly so I can get over this annoyingly large ELEPHANT sized stage fright.

Anyway, we'll see what my voice coach says at tomorrow's group class and ad Saturday's 1:1 lesson. Hopefully he'll be gentle.

Gnite all,

Missy

Panic.

Panic has started to creep in.

Breathe.. I've just got to breathe.

Videos and updates after tonight's 4 song performance..

...And then she took a final Leap off the ledge, hoping to FLY

Whew.

It's all done. I'm laying down in bed.. Going over the performance over and over..

I didn't tank I don't think.. But no where as wow-worthy as I would have liked to be. I definitely learned a lot out of this first public performance.. 

Here's the run down:

As the group gets together and starts prepping for the first performance, my palms are already cold and sweaty, my stomach is in knots and my hands start to tingle and lock up. Soon after that my lips start to tingle and lock as well - EUGH, not good for singing in a few minutes!!!! The whole hour goes by and I'm finally called up! Bahhhhhhh!!!

I stand up and do my intro, and let my voice coach know he's good to start (while my body is 1000% trembling).

When my voice teacher starts playing the intro to my song, I didn't recognize it. I'm listening really closely, watching the audience look back at me while I blankly look at my coach confused. What melody is this?! When am I supposed to come in!? I wait for him to realize he's not playing the arrangement and intro that we had worked on together but instead he continues-the audience still staring at me, blinking ad wondering why on earth I haven't started singing. 

I finally just start the song and am obviously all over the place in the first verse because I'm trying to navigate the first verse with the RIGHT melody to an entirely DIFFERENT song that's being played. Once i got to the chorus the teacher found where he was supposed to me and just followed my lead, but by that time I had totally effed up the verse and knew that I could sing that so much better.. What I've learned tonight is that if the pianist is making up the song, still own and sing the verse with conviction instead of singing so tentatively..

I'm disappointed in tonight as a whole and am that much more nervous for the FOUR song set that I'm doing on Monday at a BAR IN SAN FRANCISCO! Eughhhh.. 

Anyway, after all that I still got up there and certainly deserved a glass of champagne to calm my nerves that were spinning out of control..

I'll be practicing like a psycho until Monday.

Gnite loves,

Missy

Memorial Day Shopping..

Hey goofballs!

So I did a little damage yesterday.. 

I walked into Guitar Center and bought.. Everything..I think lol. Hahahahah no just kidding, although it did feel like it when I got to my mountain of goodies at the register.  I got the start of what I needed for practicing music at home. What does that mean, you ask?

- a performance microphone

- microphone cables

- microphone boom stand

- piano / keyboard (score!)

- keyboard stand

- chair for playing keyboard

- audio interface (comes with audio software for editing recorded music)

- keyboard/piano pedal

- keyboard cables

- 2 mega awesome speakers (aka monitors)

- 2 books of fun sheet music 

What's left?

I need : 

- a DESK

- a computer that allows all of the above to be RUN

Whew! 2 major questions:

1) HOW on earth do I put this all together and make it work?

2!) WHERE on earth will this fit in my San Francisco apartment??!

A really good first step but I still have a ways to go.. What I was finding is I would make great progress in my lesson but I'd be a sitting duck once I got home. I'd still practice but just to my lessons recorded and just practice my upcoming performance songs acapella. 

I realized I was handicapped. I can't perform live anywhere without being able to play an instrument (seeing as how I obviously have no band) and if I want to take my music to the next level.. Like write my own music or manipulate and change an existing released song - or perform ANY song live without help.. I need to play an instrument! 

Soooooo with that being said, I played the piano a bajillion years ago and have since stopped (and focused on dance instead).. So my job now is to rack my brain and RE-learn how to play the piano. Something that can ONLY help me..

Keep your fingers crossed for me, hopefully it comes back to me SOMEWHAT easily :)

Skip to TODAYYYY, my boo (Alex) and I met my mom in the oh so lovely Vacaville (~1 hour away from San Francisco) so we could 1) hang out and 2) so she could give me my dog back (my fluffy muffin Alfie!!!)

She watches him whenever Alex and I travel.. Which works cuz she begs for him normally :)

Hanging with my mom is my favorite, a little dose of home every time.. We shopped a bit, helped her pick a dress for an upcoming cousin's wedding and then had a little dinner and drinks (or maybe it was just me who drank.. Oh well :-p)

Pics below!

Now to focus on my performance songs this week (Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!):

- Clarity

- I Knew You Were Trouble

- Impossible

- I Told You So

My cousin Kelley (who's in an amazing band called 'Breaking Midway') called me today to tell me there's a song that could fit me really well, and that she thinks I could really rock.. Jessie J's 'Who You Are'... Do y'all know it?! I looked it up today and it's an AMAAAAAZING song! A big song, but amazing. Will be trying to check that one out as well.

Okay Luvs.. This Wednesday is the group class performance day!!! I'll be singing Clarity. A week from tonight is my debut at Martuni's! 

Holy s**t!!!

For me this week : Practice practice practice!

Until later, gnite! :)

- Missy

Rehearsal break.. For Fast and the Furious

Yup!

Had a 4 day weekend instead of the standard 3 (lucky me) so I spent the day rehearsing and practicing over and over again.  Taking a break for a date night with my love :) yup! First in line for The Fast and the Furious Premiere.. Woohoo!!!

Getting really anxious though... Tomorrow morning is my last rehearsal with my voice coach before my first performance to the group on Wednesday, 5/29..   EEEEEEEEEK!!!!!

I need to feel like he knows the songs through and through and that I know my cue for when to come in. Lately it'd been rocky so in hoping we nail that tomorrow morning as well as confirm my final 4 songs.

But enough of that! It's time for Fast and the  Furious date night ;)