I know the holidays can be difficult for people who are alone, or have suffered losses, or who struggle with depression. As I came here to post three of my favorite (secular) Christmas songs, it occurred to me that all three of the artists suffered from mental illness, and all died as a result of their illness. When I listen to these songs now, it prompts me to send extra long-distance hugs to my friends and family having a rough time. You are loved, even from far away!
First, the imitable Judy G, with her lesser-known holiday favorite, from another Christmas-ish movie that doesn't seem like one (and in this case, the movie is a loose remake of one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Shop Around the Corner--remade again as You've Got Mail).
Next, a song that has been covered--BADLY--so many times. The original is terrific. Why is Donny Hathaway not on constant rotation on oldies radio?!
Lastly, another of my contralto ladies. If you don't like this, we cannot be friends.
There are some very weird fan-generated Murdoch Mysteries videos. This is not even one of them. But you can see that Yannick Bisson is an expert on smizing. (I suppose puppy-dog eyes are a helpful tool.)
Busy busy over here--everybody getting sick (sidebar: tummy meds still working!!) while I desperately try to avoid illness in preparation for rehearsals starting tomorrow night! (The chorus of the concert performance I alluded to a few posts back. The audition did go fairly well, despite my jitters, and while they were quite complimentary, I wasn't cast in any of the comprimario roles I was interested in-- they were probably precast anyway. I decided to sit in in the chorus, despite not having sung in an opera chorus since 2006--and then only as a favor!--and because there's more music to learn, it may even be more helpful for diction education than a comprimario part.) The process has indeed been helpful in my comprehension of general diction in the given language. (Vague Girl is being Vague.) I feel that learning pieces in this language will be a lot easier in the future because of the work I'm doing now. Plus I get to hang out in the vocal basement, my favorite place to live.
In other news, we are getting ready for Christmas, albeit slowly due to the aforementioned illnesses and music-learning. We have a wreath on the house, and we bought a tree at Costco Thanksgiving weekend, but we haven't brought it in yet. (There are NO TREES available here after December 10--it is so weird--so you basically have to buy early, cut off a few inches of trunk and keep it in a bucket of water outside if you don't plan on putting it up right away. My father's birthday is next week, and he was grumpy about it, so we never put up the tree until afterwards. Ideally, it would be up already, though.) We had Rosina write a note to Santa, which she will deliver to our neighbor/professional Santa (who she knows is "Santa's Helper, not actual Santa") on Sunday. We have not done any shopping for her yet, but I am almost done with a life-size knitted puffin. It's a very clever pattern, with lots of short rows and slipped stitches used to great effect. I just didn't know it was going to be so BIG.
