O hello, High A.

[KiaKat]

I joined a (semi) local choir about a month ago. The director is a somewhat-well-known opera singer, who also runs a music festival focused on opera. Due to various reasons, I haven't seen her in about three weeks.

Today was my first choral session with her, and I found my voice. Apparently it had been hiding in the back of my throat, and suddenly it's decided to re-emerge and seat itself correctly. It felt incredible to hit all those lovely high notes again, and my breathing hasn't felt this comfortable in years. All that operatic training really is good for the lungs!

Even more amazing, I was invited to audition for a sixteen-voice chorus. If chosen, I'd be singing the choral parts of Madama Butterfly at this year's festival.

I can't even begin to explain how amazing this feels.

[Food Lady]

Oh, wow, how awesome! I can sing, but usually don't. Isn't opera difficult? Seems like it would be.

[Kristev]

I'm happy for you.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

I wish you the best of luck. Little Bits did a piece from a Italian Opera as part of her College audition last Friday. She was amazed, that after concentrating on singing Alto I for the last four years that her range still went up to a high Bb

[Seraph]

Holy cow, grats Kia!=D

[thansal]

That is all kinds of awesome

[KiaKat]

For me, opera is easier than pop. My voice naturally falls into a range somewhere between Mezzo and Prima Soprano, depending on how hard I've been training. In HS, I had a 2.5 octave range (professional primas usually have around a 3 octave), with most of my power being concentrated around the top of the staff (second octave).

I've been looking for a good choir to join for years - I fell out of the habit of singing almost a decade ago, and this one dropped into my life at just the right time. With luck, I can take occasional lessons with my choral director, and really improve my range and control.

This almost doesn't feel real. With a singular exception, I was never really complemented seriously on my voice in HS. I always got the secondary singing roles in drama, I got solos by default in choir (only prima soprano, only one able to sing descants), and beyond the encouragement from my teacher (who was being paid to teach me), no one ever said "wow, you've got a great voice!"

The exception was my senior year thesis performance - a trio of Pie Jesu compositions from different composers during the Romantic period. Including Verdi, who is a pain in the ASS to sing. That garnered a fair bit of praise, and I'm still inordinately proud of that performance.

[Elspeth]

WOW Congrats KiaKat!! That is so cool.