Concert Schedule

Choir Concert Oct. 28th at 7:30

Orchestra Concert Nov. 6 at 7:30

Christmas Concert Dec. 5 at 7:30

Christmas Vespers Dec. 7 at 6:00

And that's it! All of my performances for the fall semester. There will actually be a voice studio recital, but I don't know exactly when that is yet. I will put it up when I do!

Debate Post

So I haven't posted in two weeks, and for that I am very sorry. I have been busy though...

Swing Bums are going full swing (no pun intended). I have been dancing 2 or 3 times a week outside of my country/western class. 

I am currently watching the presidential debate with friends, so in this blog, I believe I will write down my reactions to questions in the debate:

Opening:

- McCain! Stop being defensive!

How would you lead this country out of the financial crisis?

McCain: no earmarking....veto all spending bills? 

Obama: earmarks = 18 billion $ in last year's budget.... M wants 300 billion $ in tax cuts for buisnesses ->    WTH. We need to build the economy from the bottom up.

McCain: money corrupts people, so we need to not give it to them.....(me: and you're going to fix that fundamental, universal flaw?) says that Obama is spending on things that are not necessary

Obama: health care etc. is pretty important I think

Obama: McCain says that our buisness tax is high, and yes it is on paper, but there are so many loopholes written into the tax code, a lot with the support of McCain, that in reality, they pay very very little taxes. (me: Ya! Go Get'im!)

They are spending too much time on taxes. It's definitely been more than 5 minutes. 

financial rescue "thing":

Obama: What are you going to have to give up in terms of priorities to have enough money for the financial rescue plan? It's hard to anticipate, but we have to have energy independence (in 10 years we will not be dependent on foreign oil w/ my plan), we have to fix health care system (avg. deductible has gone up 30% in the past year), we have to make sure that we are competitive in the world in terms of our education (YEAH!), other things that we should do we may not be able to do because of the financial bailout cost. Like: individual component of energy plan may need to be cut, cut medicare subsidy, Iraq spending (THANK YOU). Admits he will have to make tough decisions, but we gotta know what our priorities are..... tax cuts for people who don't need them, and aren't asking for them, and leaving out health care? 

McCain: opposes ethanol subsidies, we have to cut government spending, except on defense because defense is very important, but I can make sure that money is being used wisely (there is a ship that was supposed to cost 1.4 billion but ended up costing 4 billion and we still don't have it .... me: WTH??!)..... We need offshore drilling and nuclear power.... and we are sending 700 billion $/year to countries that don't like us (I don't think that pulling spending will help that relationship, John)....  we need to cut spending, and eliminate unnecessary spending (me: get new schtick). "Have not been elected Mrs. Congeniality in the Senate" my friend Marisa: "that's why you got Palin!" HAHAHAHA

Compare Iraq to Vietnam lessons:

McCain: the difference is that Vietnam we came away almost losing, but in Iraq the war was badly mishandled in the beginning, but we are now winning, and when we do win, we will have a stable ally and a fledgling democracy.

Obama: I opposed the war from the beginning, and I wish that for my and the country's sake I had been wrong, but I wasn't. We are in distress at home, we can't spend our time and money with other people's things. We need to use military force without hesitation in the case of the safety of our country, but we need to use our military wisely.

I love Obama's little mumblings. McCain will say something, and he will mumble things like "that's not true..." 

Marisa feels insulted because McCain is talking down to the public "we have to get 'the bad guys'"

Obama: we need to pull out of Iraq, but we do need more troop in Afghanistan because that is where we are really in trouble. We need to capture and kill Bin Laden (kill? That's a little harsh for Obama. I'm not totally opposed, but it was surprising). We need more troops there, and we need to press the Afghanistan government to make sure that they are working for their people. We also need to hit the poppy trade, and Pakistan. 

McCain: When we were able to help drive Russia out of Afghanistan, we basically washed our hands and said great, we're done. That opened the door for The Taliban, and Al Qaeda, and I regret that. We can't wash our hands of Pakistan, we need to get in there and work with the governement, and get the cooperation of the people in border areas (like Waziristan, yay Greg Mortenson!) that haven't been governed since the time of Alexander the Great. I know how to work with them (you WHAT??? Their own government doesn't know how to work with them). 

They spend a lot of time talking about the military. Basically, McCain says that even though Obama is a subcommittee chair on something.... I think some kind of war policy...... he has made no effort to talk to Gen, Petraus, or sufficiently learn about what is going on over there, and that he has made the effort to go to Iraq and Pakistan, and Iran, and learn about the situation. Obama says that not only do those things not come through his subcommittee because they decide those things as a whole committee, that is what Biden is for. 

McCain: to punish people, we need to isolate them. You also can't have talks without pre-conditions.

Obama: that has not and will not work, if we have a problem with a country, we need to talk more to them, not less! Also, there is a difference between saying "I will not talk with you until you do exactly what I say" (pre-conditions) and having preparation, which is a good thing (low-level talks beforehand).

McCain: Oppressive North Korean regime makes people shorter!! (we know this is not what he meant, but that's how he said it, and I think it's hilarious)

So, just to explain what we are doing. There is a group of us sitting in Izzo's room, watching the debate together. Every time Mc Cain says something stupid, we are throwing cheerios at him. These cheerios have now been dubbed "Obama-Os"

Did McCain just say that we support the inclusion of Ukraine and Georgia into Russia because Russia is concerned about losing the power of the Russian Empire??? I think he did...... WTH??!

Obama: I don't know about you, but I definitely don't support Russia's illegal inclusion of Ukraine and Georgia. 

Obama: We use 25% of the world's oil supply, and only have 3% of it. We can't simply drill our way out of this dependence on foreign oil, we have to look into wind, water, and yes nuclear power... clean, cold energy. 

What is the possiblity of another 9/11?

McCain: I think we are definitely safer, but we still have a way to go. We need to improve our intelligence, and our techniques so we never torture another prisoner again (THANK YOU!). 

Obama: We need to work on our chemical sites, and transportation. We need to focus on Al Qaeda, not just Iraq. We are better, but we have a long way to go. The way we are perceived in the world has the biggest effect on what people think they can do to us. The world thinks less of us, and we need to change that. 

McCain: We cannot fail in Iraq. 

Obama: We have weakened our ability to have a presence around the world, and destroyed our economy, because we have been way to focused on Iraq. 

Here's what I see about this debate: McCain has two topics, which are spending and The Surge. He also love to remind people about just how long he's been around, and how many times he's been around the block. His schtick is very set, and stale. Obama is great about keeping people focused on his words, and is great at topical gymnastics. He also gives closure to his speeches. I think that Obama definitely won this debate. 

In other news, there is officially a new man in my life. His name is Nik Gilmore. We met while dancing with Swing Bums. He originally hails from Westlake, so everyone has free reign to require his presence at functions during the holidays. Basically, he's a tall, dark, and handsome comp sci major. 

I have started bassoon lessons with Mark Rogers. I am really excited about them actually. The first lessons I learned a lot about the history of the bassoon, and a new fingering for the high notes that drastically improves them. He makes me feel like I don't really know anything about the bassoon though. It's alright, he's going to be a great teacher. I told him that yes, I am a music ed major, but I'm focusing on voice, and he said "alright, so my goal with you will be to just make bassoon as easy as possible, so you don't have to waste time on it." WOOHOO! :) 

I have my first college cold. I have been without a voice for about 4 days now, and I have made most of my friends sick. Yay dorms. It's alright though. I was well stocked with sudafed, cough drops and such. Of course I need to replenish my supply now. Next weekend mom and dad?????

Oh! My first round of tests went really well. I made As in theory and keyboard skills. I still don't know how I did on Jazz History (he procrastinates on grading like we do on homework), but I think it went well. 

Dr. Heller:

is my theory professor. He is quite hilarious, and there is a guy on my floor, Chris Murray, who does the best impression of him EVER (actually, Chris IS Dr. Heller, just younger). It is very hard to explain Dr. Heller to those who do not know him. Some examples:

- During an organ lesson (he is also the organ professor), the flowers on the altar were backwards, and he took time out of the lesson to talk about how much that bothered him, and proceeded to turn them around. 

- He tells us frequently that caffeine should be a way of life for us, and tea is for sissies. 

- In class, he will go to the piano and play cadences in whatever scale we are working with to get our ears in line. If anything is in the key of D, he plays "Oklahoma!" and tells us that it is his FAVORITE musical. In between keys, he also "cleanses our palettes" by mashing around on the keyboard. 

- Thursday is a busy night for Dr. Heller. He enjoys watching Project Runway, and was very excited about the premiers of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. 

Al of this from a man who, if you haven't taken his class, intimidates even the hardiest music person with a glance and a snide comment. 

- Christina

music: "American Pie" Don McLean

"I'll speak in a monstrous little voice."

trip pictures

I quite enjoyed the pictures from Gramma and Ben's trip. I especially appreciated the leather and cutlery shop that was named "Jekyll and Hyde." 

I have been strangely without homework this whole week. I've been very restless actually because I don't have anything constructive to do. I shall now answer Gramma's questions though:

1. The choir is very much like Bowie's except the rehearsal etiquette is miles and miles above what I'm used to. Unfortunately, the level of music we are singing is pretty much the same. Keep in mind, that I am in the lowest choir, so that's actually not much of a surprise. The orchestra level of difficulty is actually a little below what I am used to, but the string section actually knows what they are doing, and I like the pieces. In terms of whether I enjoy them as much as I did at Trinity, yes, very much so. 

2. performances:

I left my schedule in the choir room last night, I will be editing this later when I have it back.

3. Hephaestus is a hermit crab.

4. I haven't actually started working at Each One Teach One yet. They will call me when they have someone who needs tutoring at the time I said I could come work.

Also coming later will be my discussion of the film, Loose Change, which we will be watching today in my conspiracy theories class.

-Christina Tannert "Mi Manchi" Andrea Bocelli

"May you live long in glory, night and day,

and may eternal bliss attend your way."

- The Arabian Nights: The 73rd Night

First Official

Good morning all,

I sit here in high spirits because I though that my class started at 9:30 this morning, but at breakfast found out that it in fact starts at 10:30. I LOVE these late class things. I though it might be about time for a "scholarly discourse," so I have decided to talk about the origin of the word "jazz," and what exactly jazz music is.

The texts we have read for class, spend about 20 pages answering the question of "what is jazz?" with "we have no idea." The origin of the word has been attributed to shortened versions of the french word "jaser," the African word "ja ja," or that it was derived from the word gism. Interestingly enough, the word "jazz" didn't appear in print until 1913 (and no one was really sure how to spell it: jas, jass, jaz, or jazz), and it was originally used by sports casters to describe baseball players' energy on the field. The energetic feeling of "jazz" music is no doubt what prompted people to start calling it by that name. Scholars also can't pin down exactly how to define jazz music. There are three approaches to this. The first is a very strict definition, involving a certain amount of improvisation and "swing feeling" (they're also not quite sure on how to define swing. We all know it as a rhythmic pattern, but people have gone as far as describing it as merely "a lilting feeling"). Obviously, this leaves out a lot of music that we usually consider to be jazz, like a lot of Duke Ellington's band music. This also rules out artists who record a song or riff that might have been improvised at the time of the recording, but is no longer considered improvised because they emulate their recording in performance. The second approach is that of "family resemblances." Music is jazz if it is done by artists who are normally associated with jazz, or artists that could be associated with those artists. This obviously presents problems because it doesn't actually define jazz. The third, and my personal favorite, is the "you'll know it when you see it" approach. Basically, jazz's two main components are improvisation and swing, but there are varying degrees of each in any given jazz piece, and jazz doesn't necessarily HAVE to have both of them. Scholars don't like this, because again, it doesn't give a concrete definition of jazz, but it seems to work the best of the three approaches to me. 

So that was week one of Jazz History and Styles, besides learning about what music is, and all the different elements of music we will be listening for. 

I've also been swing dancing this week, and I LOVE it. The place they took me to is filled with people WAY above my dancing level, but they were really nice, and didn't mind slowing down and teaching me new things. I think I'm 3X better already just being there for a couple hours. There are 3 places to go dancing during the week here, and a 4th in Austin. It might be going a little overboard if I go dancing 3X a week, but I'm definitely thinking about it.... 

 I have included a picture of the new member of the family, Hephaestus:

And one from yesterday when Sean came to visit me (he's going to UTSA):

And one of my friends Indy (yes, Indy Jones) and Marisa messing around with my photo booth. 

- Christina

music: "Everything" Michael Buble & "Cemeteries of London" Coldplay

"Chivalry is not dead, it's just laying in a coma somewhere, with internal bleeding." - Sean Vargas

To answer Karen's questions:

- The lunch hour is a very elusive, fleeting character. It can sometimes be found between seminar and jazz history on tuesdays and thursdays, though most of the time it is a hurried thing at 2 after jazz history. Mondays and fridays it is pretty regularly found at 12:30 after dance, but fridays, it is around 11:00. 

- I am taking 17 hours.

- At Trinity we have what's called a common curriculum, which means that math, english, and science are replaced by "understanding cultural heritage," "understanding arts and literature," "understanding human social interaction," "understanding quantitative reasoning," and "understanding natural science and technology." In each of the 5 "understandings" we are required to take between 3 and 9 hours of classes. Some of the understandings are broken up too, and there are hour requirements for each sub-understanding. 

- I don't think they have a class on that, but that would be REALLY cool.... I will suggest it I think.

Major happenings in the past couple days:

- I got a job as Dr. Bigler's choral assistant, woo!

- I finally convinced one of my guy friends to join my dance class with me, so I now have a partner for class, woo!

- I went to see Flobots in concert, woo!

- I went to lunch with Georgeanne and the boys, and Drew drove me around.... slightly scary, but a fun time was had by all.

- I have been roped into volunteering at Each One Teach One every saturday morning this semester. It's an adult literacy center which provides private tutors to adults who are below a 5th grade reading level. It's actually really cool, and I think it will be fun.

- I rode city buses into down town for the EOTO thing on saturday... it was an adventure all by itself (yes, I was with a group)

- I may or may not be playing in a woodwind quintet outside of Trinity. I was at a music store getting manuscript paper when the salesguy and I started talking, turns out that he's a band director who plays clarinet who has been looking to do a quintet and all he needed was a bassoon.... 

- weekends are very free for me at this point, and most of monday I spent sitting aroun

d in my room. It's really weird having free time... but I will do my best to keep as much of it as I can

Christina Tannert

music: "Come Together" from Across the Universe

"someone who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world."