When my students recommended that I watch Hairspray, I was a little skeptical. I feared that it would be similar to the movie Rent, which I feel absolutely massacred the truly brilliant musical. I was pleasantly surprised after I finally rented and watched Hairspray, and I highly recommend it to others. It was cast really well (I know, I had my doubts about Zac Efron too), and once I got used to seeing John Travolta dressed up as a woman, even that worked pretty well.
My chorus is now working on "You Can't Stop the Beat", and they love it. One of my students said the other day, "You know, it's weird. For every concert we do, there is one song that everyone loves and gets really excited about!" I smiled and said, "You know I do that on purpose, right?" I'm glad it's working!
The entire song is about 10 minutes long, so this is the short version which is pretty close to the arrangement that my chorus is doing:
Oh, and I have a group of boys singing Queen Latifah's part who are beyond thrilled.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Real David Hasselhoff
In case anyone was confused by my video, here is the real David Hasselhoff version:
Warning Warning Warning
The following video may be too hot to handle.
This is my official submission to the David Hasselhoff contest.
This is my official submission to the David Hasselhoff contest.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Everything's Alright
Well, maybe. Peter Pan is in less than a week, and things aren't going as smoothly as I had even hoped a few weeks ago. The good thing is that next year I will learn from my mistakes and use contracts. So far I have been extremely lucky. I have been able to replace everyone except for the harpist, and we'll be okay without a harpist. If one more musician drops my sanity might honestly crack (the most recent drop happened about 6 hours ago), but at the moment things are alright.
I sometimes sing this song to myself when I'm upset. Not only is it soothing, but it's in 5/4, which is wicked cool!
I sometimes sing this song to myself when I'm upset. Not only is it soothing, but it's in 5/4, which is wicked cool!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Life's Little Pleasures
I think it's nice when something really small makes me happy and reminds me of how wonderful it is to be alive. I usually have several of these moments a day (well, on good days anyway) and laugh at myself intermittently for how odd I am sometimes.
For example, I bought myself some new deodorant today. I like to try out all of the different scents, so I bought a stick called "tropical satin" this time. Apparently it's supposed to moisturize the underarm area as well as act as an anti-perspirant. I know, modern science is amazing, right? So anyway, I just took a shower after working out, and I decided to try the new deodorant. It smelled really nice, it felt smooth as it was going on, and it made me feel pretty. I did a little "I feel pretty" dance and decided to write a post about it since I haven't posted in a while.
But honestly, I can't be the only one who rejoices about silly little things. What are your little pleasures?
For example, I bought myself some new deodorant today. I like to try out all of the different scents, so I bought a stick called "tropical satin" this time. Apparently it's supposed to moisturize the underarm area as well as act as an anti-perspirant. I know, modern science is amazing, right? So anyway, I just took a shower after working out, and I decided to try the new deodorant. It smelled really nice, it felt smooth as it was going on, and it made me feel pretty. I did a little "I feel pretty" dance and decided to write a post about it since I haven't posted in a while.
But honestly, I can't be the only one who rejoices about silly little things. What are your little pleasures?
Thursday, December 20, 2007
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I remember that at about this time last year, I was losing my mind over the stress of being the music director for Oliver!. I remember quite clearly thinking that no amount of money was worth the stress and agony I was going through. But I somehow managed to pull everything together, and the show was a huge success. So when they asked me this year if I'd like to be the music director for Peter Pan, I figured that since I already had one show under my belt and I actually had some music contacts this time around that things would be easy. Stupid stupid stupid!
Not only is the pit twice as large for Peter Pan, but the scores are nearly illegible. A few people who had given me a tentative yes are now giving me a resounding no after receiving their music. My almost cello player sent me an email saying that the company should be paying us to even use their scores! Do you know how hard it is to find cellists, violinists, bassoonists, oboists, and harpists in this area who are willing to play music in absurdly difficult key signatures for 2 rehearsals and 2 shows for $125?! I'm having a hard enough time myself merely trying to teach the kids how to sing the darn stuff. The lyrics and notes in my score are different from in theirs, and the lyrics are different from both in the actual script. It's a nightmare. When the director told me that she had to beg the company to let us do Peter Pan because they don't sell licenses to the show anymore, I should have taken that as a huge warning sign. It's a nightmare.
In the interest of keeping my sanity, I am going to post my favorite song of the moment.
Much better.
Not only is the pit twice as large for Peter Pan, but the scores are nearly illegible. A few people who had given me a tentative yes are now giving me a resounding no after receiving their music. My almost cello player sent me an email saying that the company should be paying us to even use their scores! Do you know how hard it is to find cellists, violinists, bassoonists, oboists, and harpists in this area who are willing to play music in absurdly difficult key signatures for 2 rehearsals and 2 shows for $125?! I'm having a hard enough time myself merely trying to teach the kids how to sing the darn stuff. The lyrics and notes in my score are different from in theirs, and the lyrics are different from both in the actual script. It's a nightmare. When the director told me that she had to beg the company to let us do Peter Pan because they don't sell licenses to the show anymore, I should have taken that as a huge warning sign. It's a nightmare.
In the interest of keeping my sanity, I am going to post my favorite song of the moment.
Much better.
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