Proper Vocal Technique

For all of you singers (or wannabe singers out there), you can now take lessons on Youtube with highly qualified professionals. The following is a teacher I highly recommend. I suggest you do not watch this around a lot of people unless you want them wondering what in the world you are watching.


This is actually an actress named Coleen Ballinger that has a vlog with this character named Miranda. Check out her Voice Lesson clip on Youtube. So many people take her seriously (because she is very similar to other "singers" on Youtube).

What I Am Excited to Watch

I'm excited to see this show:

Broadway Theatre in Utah

So next school year I will be taking my students to see:

December 8-13th 2009

AND:

March 23-28th 2010

And I'll be taking students and family to:

Aug. 11-Sept. 26 2010.

I'll also be taking Jackie and Millie to:

February 2-7, 2010.

I think Millie (3 years old) will love this last show because it's a fun story told with puppets! What says fun for the whole family more than that?

Great Clips

Two of my favorite performers ever:


Both are comic geniuses.
In tribute to my upcoming 80's musical (and the brilliant Stephen Merchant):


Try the workout at home.

Webelos

So I was recently called to be one of 3 Webelos leaders in our ward. I was a little nervous because it's been many a year since I've peed to put out a camp fire. So I went to my first meeting on Wednesday- where the other leader proceeded to teach a lesson on personal health and safety to 6 wiggly 10 year olds. It turned out to be fun- especially when we played Family Fued Drug and Alcohol Edition and had them name items that are not safe to huff (toxic fumes, etc). They were doing great naming things like paint, gas, etc... until the classic Scouting moment occured- someone farted. This proceeded to derail the game for about 7 minutes (and where myself and the other leader used it as a teaching moment to say that that particular fume was also unsafe to inhale). After the moment passed we also discovered that dirt, chalk, crayons, carbon dixoide and oxygen were also unsafe to huff. It made me remember back to my days in Sunday School where I snorted chalk dust off an eraser and killed a few brain cells (and gave myself a bloody nose). Good simpler times.

It's Been A While

So it's been a while since I've blogged- hopefully you've been keeping up on Jackie's site with all of our latest and greatest. Here are some short summaries:
January: My Music, Dance, Theatre revue accompanied by Kelly DeHaan went great. The kids (11 guys and 11 girls) put on a great show. We had a good mix of old and new Broadway hits.
Rehearsals began for Neil Simon's Rumors. I have to say this is the most diffcult play I have EVER directed. It did not help that I was simultaniously performing in:
Cash On Delivery: This play was a blast because I didn't come on until the end of Act 1 and then just appeared at random throughout Act 2- sometimes with a body bag and gurney. I thought this show was a blast (and my fellow cast members were great), but I'm glad it's over.
UTA- The annual High School Theatre Conference was held at Weber State with guest artist Seth Rudetsky. It was fun that he came because I reccommended him- so I'm glad he was a hit. Seth is a stand up comedian as well as a Broadway vocal director and accompanist. In a completely unrelated note,
although we haven't been home to watch a lot of DVD's, I loved NICK and NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST. Here's one of my favorite scenes:

At UTA we had kids apply for scholarships in Musical Theatre, Acting and Technical Theatre.
In February, Jackie's show All Shook Up (which I saw Friday night- it's AWESOME get your tickets now because it's selling out- good job Neil, Korianne, Kori and JACKIE!) began tech week which began our craziness. For 2 weeks, Jackie got home at 2:00am and I got home after Rumors tech week.
Now that her show has opened, life is much better and we are planning our trip to Disneyland in April (along with everyone else that has Spring Break over Easter).
We're gradually getting caught up on our Netflix and we loved the Oscars! That's all for now.

A Special Moment

So tonight's Family Home Evening was on prayer. We kept it short and sweet and at the end, we looked at a picture of Jesus praying and there was a nice quiet moment. I had explained why we pray and to whom we are praying too and was enjoying a special teaching moment. After a second or two, Millie looks up at me with her big, brown 3-year old eyes and says:

"I don't like Maleficent."

Lesson accomplished.

On an unrelated note, this is the last week to catch me in the Tuesday, Thursday, Sat. 4:00pm and 7:30pm shows of Cash On Delivery at Hale Centre Theatre (West Valley).

Also, this weekend, Jackie's All Shook Up opens at Hale Orem with special preview pricing. She's in the Monday, Wed., Friday cast and she'll be hilarious!