A Day of Singing

I had my second voice lesson today, and I absolutely love my teacher. There is always a learning curve with a new teacher-student relationship, but we speak the same language (literally and figuratively), so that helps a lot. She's from Louisiana but she's lived in Salzburg for four years, so she knows what it's like to be here for the first time, kind of unsure of what you're doing. She's given me some new techniques - I have rocked on the balls of my feet to power up to the top notes and "hissed" phrases to figure out the right amount of breath and energy for the line - and my next lesson is Thursday. A lot to practice in a day and a half!

Today we went to Schloss Leopoldskron, the mansion where they filmed some outdoor scenes for "Sound of Music." Of course, I got lost getting there from my voice lesson (I walked for about 45 minutes more than I should have), so I missed the first half hour of the tour. I was in a cranky mood cause I was hungry and tired, but I snapped out of it after Cat offered me a crusty roll. We took some fun pictures, too, near the lake where the kids climb out of the water after tipping over the canoe (in the movie, I mean).

Here's our group on the steps that lead up to the back terrace of the mansion. You can barely see our faces.

The library of my dreams. This photo was taken from the balcony (thanks, Jon), which was also filled with books. There were little nooks where you could read and write, with beautiful woodwork and marble everywhere. The only thing missing was the rolling ladder, but the secret staircase that led up to the balcony made up for it.










And here we are, me, Susanna, Tom, and Andrew. Chilling on the terrace of a mansion. This is crazy.