Week of firsts

Hello, everyone! First, let me apologize for a few things. 1. I might not get to update every day. The Internet is... A diva. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I have learned that if I want to watch a movie or Skype with some fabulous people then I have to do so during the day. With that being said, I have learned that I need to post in the afternoon. 2. Finding Any type-os or missing punctuation? Sorry! I am typing very fast with one, maybe two, fingers on my iPad. I will do my best to find all errors before I post. :) 3. My final apology... Formatting, I can't seem to create paragraphs within the actual blog. When I write my blog in notepad it has paragraphs! Somehow they get list in translation? Who knows!  Anyways, I never know my schedule until the night before the coming day. Being a girl that practically lives for schedules and to-do lists I thought I would o insane by this method, but I have come to love it. I have nothing else going on... So schedule me, Chautauqua! AND... Here we go. The last few days in a blog.  Wednesday  was a very exciting day. The Chautauqua voice program put on their first recital, the sing-in. At the beginning of the seven weeks all of the voice students sing an aria or art song for the faculty, public, and one another. Fortunately, I was in the first set of singers because I was nervous. I couldn't hear the aria before mine because of my own heart beat. The concert was about three hours long and it was amazing. I heard three hours of crazy talent and, for the first time, was reassured about my spot in the program. This was a week of firsts. On Wednesday I had my first master class, voice lesson, and coaching. MASTER CLASS: The first master class was led by Marlena Malas. Since it was the first one she talked about the expectations and life style of a singer. She told us to be patient and to never compare voices. We didn't have much time to listen to singers, but we did have one student sing. What I took away from Marlena's class was that singing is about sensation, feeling, intuition, and trust. My instrument is inside and cannot be seen by any instructor. It is my job to understand my voice and treat it with care. I should never feel anything in my throat. I must know my body.  VOICE LESSON: My first voice lesson was AMAZING. Again, my voice teacher is Maria Fortuna-Dean. Soprano Maria Fortuna Dean has gained worldwide acclaim from audiences and critics alike, in repertoire ranging from the lyric soprano to the dramatic coloratura roles. Maria Fortuna Dean was born in Niagara Falls, NY. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and her Master of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music; she is an alumna of the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera, where she was also an Adler Fellow. In 1999-2000 she was Visiting Professor of Voice at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Visiting Lecturer in Opera Workshop at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. In 2000-2002 she was Visiting Lecturer in Voice at SUNY Fredonia. Upcoming engagements include the soprano soloist in Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9," an evening of Mozart chamber music with Jeffrey Kahane of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and numerous recitals throughout Southern California. For now, I will be setting aside and Wagner or Weber that I have sung or will sing in the future. Maria was excited about the color my voice has and started developing some chest-voice exercises and some, dare I say it, coloratura warm-ups. Just to be clear... I am not, and never will be, a coloratura. This first lesson consisted of me singing several warm-ups. My new teacher needed to listen for strengths and weaknesses.  COACHING: My first coaching was with Benedicte Jourdois. I will be singing in the July 4th concert here at Chautauqua and she is my accompanist. She helped me feel a real sense of line in my music. I will meet with her a few more times before the concert. Thursday, I had a coaching with Mikael Eliasen. Danish-born coach and accompanist Mikael Eliasen received his early training in Copenhagen, Montreal, and Vienna. He has collaborated with numerous singers in recital worldwide, including Robert Merrill, Tom Krause, John Shirley-Quirk, Elly Ameling, Edith Mathis, Florence Quivar, Mira Zakai, Sarah Walker, Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, and Curtis alumni Theodor Uppman, Michael Schade, and Rinat Shaham. In the United States, he works regularly at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, LA Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.Mr. Eliasen joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986 and became the head of the department in 1988. I did audition for Mikael when I auditioned at Curtis this last spring. I sang for him yesterday.l. and he had a lot to say. He was very excited about the sounds coming from my voice and loved the top register. Now, for the stuff I need to work on. I tend to indulge in the lower register of my voice- I am twenty two and need to lighten this up! I have always counted on my volume to impress people, but now it's time to take my voice back. Reign it in, Ashcroft! He reiterated what Maria had said in my lesson... No more Wagner! I need Handel and Mozart. Music with coloratura aspects. I am not to sing anything heavy for awhile. I am to listen to Birgit Nilsson, Deborah Voight, Zinka Milanov, and any other dramatic soprano, but am NOT allowed to sing their roles. This is exciting! I do have to give up Renee Fleming. Mikael said that my voice is bigger than Renee's so I need to listen to others. Goodbye, Renee! More coming soon! Digest this big reading. Believe me... I am learning a lot and trying to soak it up. I don't want to forget anything. Happy singing! :)