Were the whole realm of nature mine / That were a present far too small

Where's Dan to give me a fix of post-singing reflection? Guess I'll have to write it myself. Let me just dust off this here old blog...

This is the season where we send our own singers traveling, notably to camp fasola and to conventions around the country. Plus we have an especially large "graduating" class this year, moving on to new schools/homes. Farewell Mark, Meg, Natalia, and Matt! Sniff! The upside of this is we get visitors and folks home for the summer to the bay area. This really made our small class tonight resonate with new energy.

Thanks, Ellen, for coming out from CT to sing power alto with me, and Will, for leading 447 Wondrous Cross, the song that keeps reminding me lately why I still sing alto even though my voice wants to move on to higher pastures. I get chills from that alto part.

Where and what are you singing this summer?

All-California Art

All-California '11, the convention that keeps on giving! I'm remiss in not posting this beautiful artwork until now.





Both watercolor pieces by Joanie Mitchell, a local bay area singer who I had the pleasure of bunking with and getting to know better over the weekend. (Thanks for giving permission to post these!) Make sure you click to enlarge the images and check out her website. And if you're lucky you just might see her work in person at a convention near you...

Thank you, LA!

3 years ago I couldn't make it to the All-Cal convention the last time it was held in LA, but I remember seeing photos and drooling. I'm so glad I made it a priority to attend this year, because it was utterly fantastic. It turned into a real singing retreat. I drove down in a van with some other bay area singers and stayed in the hostel on site. And when I say hostel, I mean this:




It was rented out just for singers - the mattresses were wicked uncomfortable and as squeaky as they come, which was pretty much the best recipe for insomnia I can think of, but it was otherwise completely free of your regular hostel hassles. The convention was obviously a well-oiled machine. Thank you especially to Laura Boyd Russell and everyone who did the behind of scenes work of welcoming out-of-town singers, and Rick Russell and others who did a very smooth job of arranging. It was kind of a perfect storm of an amazing class, obscenely gorgeous weather in an obscenely gorgeous place, and low-key quality time with new and old singing friends from the west coast and beyond (notably - Texas invasion!) In conclusion, if you haven't been to sing at Angel's Gate, I'm not sure what you're waiting for.

One of the last leaders called on Sunday, Stephen O'Leary, said all his choices had been used and he was feeling nostalgic, what with "the composer of a certain song" and his daughter present! What ensued was pretty much the ultimate 501 experience.



There's been a veritable spamming of this convention on youtube, so go check it out.

Nicoletta Rogers also recorded both days and has made them available for download!
Saturday and Sunday.