The Mirror in my Mind

Right, so I've now had five choral auditions. Two of them officially came to nothing as of the last time I checked my e-mail. I am generally unsurprised by this, given the fact that my normally mediocre sight-reading skill has atrophied over the past two years to a point where I am actually ashamed of it.

That being said (and to get onward to the subject line), I *sounded* fantastic. My voice + chapel with actual acoustics = Happy. It's so rare that I get to sing in places with decent acoustics -- no matter what I've said in the past, the shower really doesn't count -- and actually hearing my voice echoing in a giant stone chapel really is a wonderful experience. That part of all my auditions, I was genuinely proud of.

I'd left all my music at home, so when combing through my brain for something I could sing a capella without making a fool of myself, I came up with Handel's 'Lascia ch'io pianga'. Lovely piece, right within my comfortable range, and I can ornament if I'm so inclined. I've now sung it in four different chapels, and each time, I was very happy with how it sounded. Of course, the same thing happened at Queens' two years ago, and my lack of sight-reading did me in...

Ah well. Enough egotism for the time being, I suppose.

So...I got my essay back.

::grins widely::

72.

(on a scale of up to 85, a number reserved for God, Napoléon and the Académie-Français...er...wrong country. But you get the point.)

70-79 is the second-highest band, but 80-85 is supposedly near impossible to get. As in something publishable on the spot.

And the last line of the examiners' report just made me so incredibly warm and fuzzy.

"Nonetheless, the essay is elegant and convincing, a fine and accessible reading of a complicated film, and easily matches or surpasses any of the secondary sources she cites."

::descends into Sally Field mode:: They like me! They really like me!