In Case You Hadn't Heard...

THIS: 

That is all. More soon! Hopefully :) 

Still Waiting for Word (but keeping busy)

Sooo I'm still waiting to hear back from Yamaha. Remember how the 90-minute audition was video taped and sent to corporate? First, the tape sat in the Yamaha mail room for 5 days. Way to go, intern.. A week later, I was told that the video wasn't properly "finalized" and thus had to be FedExed back to California to be fixed or finalized or rendered or whatever and then FedExed BACK to South Dakota (yeah, that confused me, too...I think that the head of teacher training or whoever is deeming my audition pass or fail is in South Dakota?). So I'm told that the person evaluating my audition tape now has said audition tape in his/her possession and will be reviewing it this week. So I'm told!

Meanwhile, to keep my anxious mind off of the results...

WEDNESDAY: big presentation at work (#killedit) (Quantum Learning Network)...waiting to hear from Yamaha... 

THURSDAY: freelance work due for client (Social Media Superstar)...waiting to hear from Yamaha... 

FRIDAY bid/brief due for potential new client (Social Media Superstar) 

SATURDAY: piano recital!!!! ...waiting to hear from Yamaha...

Oh and that thing called work during the day! 

#igotthis

More updates to come as they are made available! 

xx

10 Lessons From My 10 Day Challenge (thus far)

1. A little Mozart in the morning goes a looooooong way. 

2. Everyone should spend the first 5 minutes of their day doing what they love. Read a poem. Play your favorite song. In my case, play a lil piano. Gardening. Running. Whatever it is that gets you in "the zone"...do it. There is a 50% chance that you will have a better day if you do!

3. I am forever grateful to the song "In My Life" by the Beatles for helping me to successful identify an ascending minor 6th interval. Also, in their song "From Me To You" the syllable keep you satisfiiiiiied" is an augmented chord. Thanks again, guys, for making the aural component of my prep a little bit easier - and enjoyable. 

4. Playing really fast for a long time is very hard on one's wrist if proper technique isn't used. THANK YOU, Doris Richards, for talking me through this! A side to side motion is ideal, not up and down.

5. I can accomplish anything with enough Diet Pepsi. 

6. Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" has a diminished 7th chord in it. And that's how I identify THAT one. 

7. A little scotch tape can also go a long way. Check out that amazing sequence of pages that I assembled above! Yes; copying, cutting and taping [pasting] were involved! Perfect for those page turns both backwards AND forwards (there's a coda). 

8. My neighbors, it turns out, do not like Schubert as much as I do :-(

9. Working full time + adding one component per night of my exam to my study schedule = sleep deprived but powerful Mariah. Don't mess with me. I've been up until midnight every night this week and I could crack at any second!

10. I love playing music. 

Goodness gracious. I've just spent another 20 minutes blogging that I could have spent practicing, listening, composing, music theorizing, transposing, improvising.....

Practice exam tomorrow at 7:30 am. Observing/co-teaching 9 AM-12. Practice. Private lesson. Practice? SLEEP. Practice. Practice. Practice. 

Exam for realz: Monday at 5 pm (after a full day of work, of course). 90 minutes. No stopping. Video taped. Sent to Yamaha Corporate. Eek. 

See y'all on the other side!

The Ten Day Challenge (starting 2 days ago)

No, this is not about weight loss. This is about me finding out that I need to prepare for and pass my Yamaha Music School Education Teacher Certificate Exam by October 1. I am wasting precious finger action right now typing this...back to practicing I go! Among other things, as you can see above..

Quick note: this website http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval has been a life-saver for my ear training! 

CHALLENGE: ACCEPTED.