Agnus Dei- Bizet

Hello Sweets!

As a music major (vocalist), I understand the struggles one may face when trying to learn music inside and outside of vocals lessons. I also understand the challenge of trying to interpret what your vocal professor is trying to tell you. Though your professor(s) may offer phenomenal advice, it is not always easy to relate to their vocal technique or it may not be easy to translate what is being suggested for you to do. From experience, I have often benefitted from vocal advice from my peers. Sometimes they could suggest the same techniques that my professor suggests but because my peers were able to either explain it from a student’s prospective or explain it in simpler terms, I was able to understand it. Here, I would like to document what I have learned, what I am learning, my struggles, my epiphanies, and whatever else that might come to mind by providing videos and text in hopes that this may help you somewhere in your musical journey.

LET’S BEGIN!

Check out the live performance here:
https://youtu.be/4xT4iyto0lY

Is it Lust, Love, Infatuation, or Attraction? Is there a difference? (RQ)

Brother Bear from Macon, Ga asks,
“How does one know the difference between lust and love, infatuation and attraction, and how do we ignore it?”  

First, I would like to say, “Thank you Brother Bear for giving me my first reader question! I really appreciate you and I hope I give this question a justifiable answer.”

This is a tough question because I truly feel we often will not have one with another. My thoughts are: True Love is lasting. Pure Lust is blinding. Deep Infatuation is consuming. Physical, Spiritual, and Mental Attraction is desired. Now, of course each of these descriptions can be found within the others, but allow me to break it down to show you what I mean. I will start from the bottom and work my way back up.

Be Your Own Cheerleader!

Hello Sweets!

Have you ever felt like no one cared about you, what you were doing, or even cared whether or not you were to live or die tomorrow? When you feel this way, does it bother you? It is alright to say yes. Saying yes does not mean you should be on suicide watch, it is just acknowledging the fact that you are human and you care if someone shows or demonstrates that they care for you and your existence. From my observation, the people who often feel this way are normally the people who invest a lot or desire to invest a lot of themselves into other people. I am one of those people who loves and cherishes friendships. I invest myself into all my close relationships! If I call you a friend, then that means I love you and you are in my heart. If I date you, I do not just date to be together temporarily and find someone else, I date you because I see you in my future and would like to build towards that future. So when I feel that I give and give and receive little in return, I get very upset, broken down, and hurt. It makes me feel like no one cares as much as I care about them. Sometimes, it feels like the world I live in is not real and I am giving my love to people who think I am not worth their love. Then I fall into a spiral and I have to work my way back up. Sometimes the spiral involves self destructing or exploding on some one who may or may not have deserved it!

SO WHAT DO YOU DO!?!? 
You aim to be your Own Greatest Cheerleader!
(Easier said than done, right?)

Pouring Stressing Over Salad Will Not Make You Healthy! (Stress can ruin your health too, not just eating fast food!)

Hello Sweets!
(Cheesy Title…I know! But you read it! Haha!)

Hope you all are doing well! Take it one day at a time, that is all you can do! Just prepare accordingly!

A few of my friends along with myself are trying to bring attention to eating healthier, making healthier life choices. We all have our different reasons as for why, but we do our best to help one another in this transition. There is one particular friend that did not agree to this willingly and they occasionally buck against the advise, support and tough love we give them. One evening, while we were shopping, there was another friend in the group that would make comments on selected food choices we would want to purchase. They would say “That’s not healthy,” every time.  For a while, I went a long with it, because glancing at the items it is very easy to assume if it’s not a fruit or a vegetable then it is unhealthy, but this is always not true. This friend continued to sing the same song on other ventures to get food and soon I became very aware of how false that statement was. I respect the fact that this friend is very dedicated to eating healthier but it is important for them to learn that you do not have to starve yourself and give up everything to be healthy. We are young, and our bodies are still changing.

There is much more to being healthy than just eating well. What solidified this for me, was when I was notified that my life insurance monthly premium decreased. I was shocked because I was under some odd impression that it would decrease if I’ve had it for a while. I just applied for my own life insurance a month ago so how could this be? (I quickly learned I was wrong, and now I know the truth about life insurance and how it works) Anyway, I was told my premium went down because the medical tests they performed on me to see how healthy I am came back and the results were great! They said I was very healthy therefore my premium went down about six dollars. (That is a lot of money for a broke college student!) My life insurance is very cheap now for a very great life insurance plan! (I highly recommend StateFarm for everyone! Get a quote today and see if it can work for you too!) Me? Healthy!? I knew I didn’t have poor health but I am in a very awesome percentage of healthy!

Good Morning Sweets! [8/12/2014]

This is normally something I do on my Facebook every morning. Maybe you all will like it too!

Good morning Sweets! The week is creeping along…it is Tuesday!

Sometimes we can become so focused with bettering ourselves, that we forget that there are other people around us that may need someone to help or just listen to them. Today, try to focus on helping someone else, regardless of how they fell into their circumstances. We can better ourselves all we want but we live in a world with other people. Why not try our best to keep the good ones afloat as well.

Love you all! Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Women… (What’s going on?)

Ello Sweets! 
Thank you for stopping by!

Today, I want to touch on something that is strictly for the ladies! Men, you are welcome to read and share this if you agree and if you have learned something. Also, this will not be a male bashing session so you can reside here safely and proceed with ease.

Here we go…

Dating YOURSELF is IMPORTANT TOO! (Date 1: Introduction)

Hello Sweets!

I am sure you have heard a few people suggest getting to know yourself is key before you begin successfully dating other people. I am one of those people that agree with this, but realistically speaking, no one knows themselves completely at that age in which they want to begin dating, that is just a fact. It is important to keep in mind that we will indeed change throughout life while we are dating, even in married life. There is a point in life when one may become comfortable with who they are and what they have become and that is great…but in the meantime, it is super important that we pay attention to some things about ourselves that would make our dating life a bit easier. By identifying a few things about ourselves early on, we can prevent a lot of emotional, mental, and sometimes physical damage to us and the people we date.

Dating yourself does not mean you can not or should not date other people during the process. Many of us learn through experiences. So being practical, while dating others, date yourself as well. It is a much safer alternative than cheating on your partner with another person, haha! (Seriously, do not cheat on your partner with another person! That is not cool!) Hopefully, traveling down this road will lead us to the ultimate goal of having a happy marriage to ourselves and to our dream person! I am on this journey too. We can do it!

Let us Encourage and Care for one another!

Good morning Sweets!

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday!? I know it has been a while since I’ve made statues with some sort of message or theme to them but until a few days a go, I didn’t know how much people wanted, paid attention to them and missed them. Thank you all for your love and support and thank you all for caring!

Afraid of Who You May Become?

Hello Sweets!

Have you ever wondered why your parents are the way they are today or what made them that way? Have you ever said to your parents or wanted to ask, “Do you remember what it was like to be my age?” Have you taken a good look at them and then back at yourself and said, “I will never treat my children the way my parents treat me!” or “I don’t want to be like you when I’m your age?” Or something along those lines? I know I have certainly said those lines over and over again through the years.

By reading some of my previous posts, you can get an idea of the relationship I have with my parents. I don’t hate them, and I certainly do not wish harm to them, but I know I do not want to make the same choices they have made, especially in the parenting and financial areas. In fact, my biggest fear is that I might one day become my mother. That I may act and be in the same situation as my mother. Please understand that I love my mother and she is not the wicked evil witch of the west or something. My mother can be really kind and giving but I do not want to be in her situation when I am her age. This really scares me! Recently, in my attempts to make sure I don’t take the road she traveled, I’ve discovered a shocking truth….

In all of my current attempts to not be like my mother, I am slowly and unknowingly traveling the same road. What I am doing is not working. What do I do now?

Love and Hip Hop Atlanta (You can always get something positive out of what you watch!)

Let’s admit it! Reality Television is now the “new” art of “great tv”. I use these quotations very loosely to indicate that these are things I have heard said and I may be adding a hint of sarcasm behind the phrases because these topics can be and most likely will be debated. There is no denying how fast one can get sucked into such shows, myself included. I got into reality television when I was going through my first year of college. I was constantly stressed with work, school, and human beings, but I didn’t want to smoke, drink or get high so I would sit alone in my room and watch shows like The Real Housewives franchise, (Atlanta and New Jersey are my favorite thus far!)The I Love New York reruns (I didn’t watch it when it actually aired), Flava of Love reruns (Didn’t watch it when it aired), Daisy of Love reruns (I actually watched it when it aired but I really enjoy watching the reruns for some reason) …shows like that… I watched these shows as an escape from what my life was actually like. I didn’t want to read because I had enough assignments that required reading and I wasn’t as active with people because I got enough of people in class and at rehearsals. One reality show that I can not stop watching is Love and Hip Hop! I started watching since the very first season of Love and Hip Hop New York and I was front row and center…in front of the television when Love and Hip Hop Atlanta premiered, so I am not new to these shows by far. I favored the Atlanta series not only because Atlanta is about an hour and a half drive from where I live, but also because of the drama that took place in the FIRST EPISODE! Why I continue to watch? Because unlike the New York branch, the Atlanta crew cast remains some what the same which allows the cast to grow on you. You learn so much about these people instead of being left in the dark about what are they doing now, or what happened? By keeping the core of the cast, this gives you hope for something, ANYTHING, to resolve and grow.  Due to the fact that the show seems to reek of pure drama and scandal, I can understand why many people deem this type of show as a waste of time and a poor representation of the Atlanta Rap/Hip Hop music industry. Though I understand and respect this opinion, I also have a few disagreements and counter points to explain. I will use the Atlanta crew as my examples, Mimi Faust in particular.