M.M. Voice

As my first week of grad school comes to a close I am finally getting my schedule set and an idea of what my quarter will look (and sound) like. A graduate student, in order to be full time, is required to take 8 units. I will have 23 units. Keep in mind that the performance courses are one unit. This means that choir, that rehearses 4 hours a week not to mention the outside time I will need to spend on my solos, is one unit. Opera scenes, that meets 4 hours a week and I will need to memorize and perform, is one unit. Who decided that opera production is one unit? Only twice the amount of credit as say jogging! What kind of wacko system is this? In opera production you still have to commit to memory the material, and be able to present it back learned. How is this less work than any other course? I digress.

I am taking the dreaded 200A course that all previous grad students have warned me about. Bibliography. I am exploring research sources and thinking about what topics I would like to focus on for my paper. It's a bibliographical paper, so basically a paper of every source on the entire planet, regardless of language, that discusses my topic. I was able to test my German and French reading skills this week when searching for articles in Le Grand Larrousse and Grosse Broeckhause encyclopedias. As voice majors we are encouraged to sing a variety of composers and a variety of periods. I find it hard to pick a favorite when I only work on small amounts of their repertoire. Now I have to pick a topic to focus on. Then yesterday, in class, she's going around the room and having each student share their topic. I've been trying to think, what musically do I love and would want to learn about above all else? Then it hit me... Mozart's Requiem. I absolutely love this work. It is one of my earliest introductions into sacred, choral music. I've performed it with the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra with the Quire of Voyces. I realized this might be a little specific, so I started thinking about other settings of the Requiem text. Verdi's Dies Irae is AMAZING! I'm also thinking about the settings of the Gloria. Vivaldi's Gloria is THE reason I decided to major in music.