life in the theatre

Day two of rehearsals for me was last night, and while I have a lot of catching up to do, I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll be able to get up to speed soon.

In so many ways, this show is stretching my abilities. In a good way, but it's sort of comical at the same time. Do I remember how to dance? How to sound like I'm from NashVegas? Can I sew? And, the latest in my repertoire of new skills:

Can I use Garage Band to help me rehearse the music for the show?

I love Garage Band. It's a great program. For... recording, and what's it's intended to be used for. But for actual rehearsal, it's not really made for that. It's kind of annoying to use your mouse all the time to try to find the note you need. Going to the musical typing feature is even funnier. Instead of saying "Do-Re-Mi" you're saying "T-Y-U" or something absurd like that.

I'd do it on guitar, but it just doesn't seem to work the same to rehearse with a guitar as it does with a keyboard or piano. There's a reason you don't see theater musical directors leading off the guitar, or the drums, or a clarinet or something. Nope, it's a piano.

Ah, if only I knew how to play.

question of the day

I went to my first rehearsal for Oklahoma! last night. The drive to Dexter was pleasant, and I didn't get as lost this time. Although I still have a tendency to look at long, lonely stretches of road, complete with signs of "deer crossing," and think, "Oh no." Or look at big, open pastures and think, "If a tornado came through, I am so dead."

I wonder if anyone else thinks this way?

Anyway, it was a great time, if a little challenging (I'm a week behind everyone else in learning the songs, blocking, etc.), but I'm up for it. It's the best way to grow, to step out of your comfort zone, right? I felt like I had learned a ton by the end of the night, which is a good feeling.

As I was posting the show dates on my website (you know you want to come see it! go to the website to find out the dates and time! okay, plug over), I had to laugh - in some respects, doing this show is like being on tour - except I go back to the same place every night. And, I didn't have to do my own booking. But it really looked a lot like a musician's tour schedule to me, and I thought, Wasn't I taking a break from that this year?

Whether it's on stage with a guitar or with a big group of people, I guess that performing itch has to come out somehow.

you're doing fine, oklahoma

I am so excited to say that I am now part of the cast of Oklahoma! over at the Encore Musical Theatre Company in Dexter, MI. It's a fairly new professional theater (I think they opened only earlier this year), and by fortunate circumstances I was able to join the cast after the main auditions had already happened in June. I had the chance to watch some of the production before my audition on Sunday and I think this will be a lot of fun - and perhaps more of a challenge than I'm used to, but I'm up for it.

It's been a while since we were in Dexter, but if I remember right we've played one (maybe two!) places there, including the Foggy Bottom Coffee House. I distinctly remember Foggy Bottom because when we were leaving, there was a ton of fog on the nighttime road, and I thought, Wow, they named their coffeehouse well.

Rehearsals start immediately for me - the show opens in about three weeks! Whew! There are at least 16 performance dates in August, with the possibility of extension. The website for the theater company has more information on dates and times.

See you in Oklahoma!

tour diary: flushing umc

Wow! I just realized when I signed in that my last update was June 26! Usually I'm a lot better about keeping up with my blog, but to be honest, not a lot has been happening lately. I could bore you with the day-to-day drudgery of maintaining a music career... but really, who wants to learn that being an independent artist sounds suspiciously like working a regular desk job?

The only difference, of course, being that I could theoretically go to work in my pajamas if I wanted to about 80 percent of the time (since I'm at home where no one but my cats can see my clothes).

Today we had a great time in Flushing, at the United Methodist church downtown. One of the best things about my job, and having done it for six years, is that there are several places we return to throughout the year, Flushing UMC being one of them. And there's a reason I love going back to certain places - you can be sure if a venue or church appears on my calendar every year, it's because I think it's a seriously cool place. The people at Flushing UMC are always so friendly and welcoming. Even when my head isn't on straight and I'm not sure what song I'm playing!

I blame it on the tons of allergy meds streaming through my system right now. Usually I get allergy shots, but this week we had a slight problem. My husband's birthday was earlier in the week, and on his birthday, the car's license tag expired. And we forgot to send in the renewal form earlier, whoops! So for about three days we couldn't use the car. We were lucky too, when we renewed the plate online it said the new tags could take up to 14 days to reach us. I don't think we could have handled being without a car for that long.

One of the side effects of not being able to drive was that I missed my chance to get an allergy shot for the week. I was doing fine until about two days ago, when all that pollen that's been accumulating in my system decided to rear its ugly head. The only thing that worked was take over the normal dosage of allergy medicine (kids, don't try this at home!).

So I can't wait to drive tomorrow... to my allergist's.

tour diary: girls' camp

I spent a pleasant (and really hot) day up in Vestaburg, MI, at Rock Lake, a cute campsite just an hour away from where I live.

In the afternoon, the girls' camp, made up of 8th to 12th graders, and I worked on a song about their camp experiences. From the myriad of stories they shared, it sounded like they were learning a lot - but weren't so busy they couldn't take time out to prank each other. Since I've never been to summer camp (does space camp count? I don't know - the experiences aren't really the same), I've never done (or have had done to me) some of the funny tricks the girls pulled, but it sure sounded like fun. I think we made the camp leader, Allison, a little nervous, since it seemed like all the girls were gaining from their camp time was how to pull off prank after prank, but eventually the girls shared some of the more personal lessons they were learning, and it was deep stuff.

Our evening was spent sharing music and stories about life as a musician. I was excited that they had a bunch of questions for me - there's nothing worse than dead silence during the Q&A part of the event.

I was so worried that a huge storm would hit, but my fears turned out to be unfounded, and we made it home just fine. Dusty, hot, and tired, but other than that, perfectly fine.

So now I'm off to demo the girls' camp song!

tour diary: first christian church

Whew! It's great to be back home but man, I feel like I'm melting. I think we brought the super hot weather from Indiana back up with us when we returned to Michigan.

Sunday morning was a wonderful time at First Christian Church in Salem, IN. Great people, great atmosphere. I'm always struck by what songs and stories resonate with people. I might guess that people will be moved by one thing, when it's something else that catches their attention entirely.

This week I'm prepping for a songwriting workshop and concert at a camp just an hour north of where I live. I hope, for the girls' sake, that this heat breaks soon, or it might be a miserable camping experience for them. On days like this I just want to eat ice cream... that sounds so good right now... even if it is only nine in the morning!

tour diary: guitar strings and things

We're back in Salem, Indiana, for a weekend of events and hanging out in the town. We were a little worried, because the weather people were predicting "the worst storm ever" and of course, it happened to be slated for the areas were going. But we got here without incident, and apparently back home is where the action is happening, not here.

Although this is the first time this summer that it's really felt like summer - it was 90+ degrees when we arrived!

It was great to be back at Guitar Strings and Things, this cool little guitar shop just off the downtown area of Salem. It was fun to catch up with the people we met last time, plus make new friends. I love hearing people's stories - everyone has always had these cool adventures you would never dream of having. One couple we met lived in a teepee during their first year of marriage!

I also got a kick out the locals telling me how their streets have been flooding constantly this summer. They have a street nearby that always floods - and guess what it's called? Water Street!

We're hanging out tomorrow, before our Sunday morning gig, and then we head back home. I hope it's nice and warm when we get back! I'm getting sick of all the cold summer weather.