my mom is right--they've been keeping me really busy here, or i've been keeping myself busy here--whichever way. voice and gesture was very good today. i keep realizing then halfway forgetting how much i love to sing. it's especially exciting because i think my voice has changed/is changing from when i used to do actual voice lessons in highschool. delia (i think that's the teacher's name--they're two for this class, a spanish guy and this american woman who switch off--they both worked for a long time with this theater company in france--the roy hart theater) had us make this sound she called 'soft wood.' you make the inside of your mouth open and cathedral-like (i love that feeling) and let out air on whatever vowel you're singing. the sound is very bluesy and lullabyish, cradling, circling with air. i love when i start to feel tingly and round and wide open inside from so much breathing. after just singing notes really low on an 'o', she had us slide from low to high, an interval of a third i think, singing 'my manz (breath) gone now'. channeling the bayou, perfect for heavy warm moisture-hanging air, grey sky durham day.
during the first couple of days of my period my body feels heavy and vaguely achey, dragging behind my thoughts, which are dragging behind my body, which is dragging behind my thoughts which are murk sunk to begin with. the whole cycle just makes me want to sleep or gurgle, float and worm around like a swamp creature that snaps at peoples' ankles (i wouldn't swallow them--it's not that bad). watching 'the pianist' last night--in the beginning of it there's black and white footage (maybe historical?) of Warsaw, the streets so recognizable, the trams, and chopin playing. it really bothered me when they began talking in english. nononono. english is not the language, the sound and quality of that place and people, and it just seemed really sad to me that polanski had to (funding?) or felt it was better (wider audience?) to make this film in english.
posted by Liza 12.6.03