SarahLevy.co.uk

I know I keep saying this at the beginning of every post but this time it really is a case of ‘My last post was HOW LONG AGO?’

It truly is a disgrace that I haven’t written in so long…but I knew from day one that if I was going to start a blog then I’d end up abandoning it for indefinite periods-that’s just how I’ve always been with diaries. I leave it for a while then too much has happened to sit down and write a post and it just gets harder as time goes on…so in order to start a fresh, I’ll just tough on the main points and hopefully we’ll get rolling again!

So, last time I wrote it was 3 weeks until the Big Band concert and I was getting all geed up about beginning rehearsals for the Royal Albert Hall…well, now it is getting on for 3 and a half months SINCE the RAH show!!

Well, Big Band went really well. I remember it all being a bit of a mad panic at rehearsals to get ourselves ready (isn’t it always?) but we had a whole lot of fun and I got to do the show again in Leeds where they were low on numbers so that was fab! First auditions for the RAH coincided with that show and eventually I decided to sing For Good from Wicked which I think was the right decision, as to cut a long story short, I got through both that and a more intense second round in Leeds and was given an ensemble solo part in Hail Holy Queen (Sister Act.) I didn’t expect it at all and I was so so chuffed. We had an awful lot of fun rehearsing for that show, especially the soloists. Despite being from all over the country, the long rehearsals in locations where we had to travel far and wide bought us quite close. Many of us are still in touch via facebook. It made the experience all the better as we all ended up a bit of a unit who were sharing something really exciting. I also was later given another part doing backing vocals for one of the soloists who is singing Somebody to Love (We Will Rock You) which was a challenge in cramming all kinds of 6-way harmonies but I loved every minute of it and was absolutely thrilled to have another part to sing.

The show itself was AMAZING. It was honestly one of the best nights of my life. It meant so much to me that so many people came to watch when it was a Sunday and I wasn’t sure they’d be able to. We probably about half to 2/3 packed the place out which wasn’t bad. Everything went really well and I was on a high for about a month afterwards!

We’re rehearsing for the next Merseyside show in Feb now, which has some of the RAH stuff and a whole lot of Disney I’m doing my Hail Holy Queen bit again, plus an ensemble of Seasons of Love from Rent. I’ m made up about this, as my audition didn’t quite go as planned this time around!

Soooo…other news. Just had a very lovely Christmas and New Year. I got sooo many presents this year- including a beautiful, shiny netbook from Jon, on which I’m typing right now! The hols flewwww by and now, I’m suddenly slap, bang back at work again. Work’s going well. There have been some changes for me there recently but it’s all looking quite positive for the New Year. We’ve had crazy snow here lately! We got sent home early yesterday and I was a bit concerned about how I was going to get in this morning…but I had a mahoosive migraine attack yesterday afternoon, which I’m still suffering from so I’m typing from my bed of pain (lol) rather than being in the office.

Ooh, I should review my new years resolutions for 09 and make a record of the new ones! Let’s see:

1) Lose weight and get fitter. Well, I started off well on this one, and I was on good form around the summer. However, I have ended the year having put on plenty- thus making this a resolution all over again!

2) Start singing lessons and keep them up all year. Didn’t manage to keep them up all year- but that was due to financial difficulties recently. I did pretty well on this.

3) Do at least 3 singing performances- I can tick this one off- I did 4 Sing Live shows!

4) Write more and submit at least 3 short stories into contests. No, I failed here- I lost my flair a bit and doubted the security of some contests that I hoped to enter.

5) Find a job that I love- Well, it may not be my absolute dream job, but it’s a nice job that I’m getting better at and it brings in the moolah I can’t complain.

6) See Les Miserables in London- tick!

7) Wear eyeliner more-lol, what was with this one?! Still, I think I achieved it!

8 ) Keep this blog updated and improve the site- haha, well we all know I didn’t do too well on the first bit…but I didn improve the site somewhat I like to think!

So, I did….ok!

Here are my NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS 2010:

1) Lose weight and get fitter. (lol)

2) Work towards and pass Grade 5 Music Theory.

3) Keep performing

4) Do more artwork and get more involved with threadless.com (see below)

5) Worry less!

…I think that may be it for this year??

To finish off, I shall tell you about threadless.com- which I plan to put in the links section soon. I was introduced to it on NYE by Tom, who was sporting a t-shirt he’d bough from there. In short, it’s a great site whereby users design t-shirt slogans and graphics which are then voted for by other users. From this voting, the guys at Threadless then decide which designs they will print, offering $2000 in return for successful designs! They also run more specific contests which offer more prize money. Love it!

So, I’m going to wrap it up here for now as that’s the main news for now. I just want to touch on the fact that I wrote ages ago that I was going to start writing posts about things other than my news…and never did! Well, I still plan to do so…in fact, maybe that should be NY resolution no. 6!

Happy New Year!!

Sarah

xxx

…That’s me being a busy little bee lately!

Wow, before I had a job I thought I wasn’t doing enough stuff day to day-now I have to fit it all in around full-time employment I realise I was doing plenty!

The job is going fine. I’m definitely happy with it so far. Everyone’s nice and it’s a good little role to get my teeth into! There’s a lot of industry jargon that I’m having to get to grips with but I think I’m doing quite well…My role is Service Sales Administrator in the Additional Works Dept. I basically cost up engineers’ recommendations and send out quotes, follow up old quotes (of which there are many,) process orders, get prices from suppliers, order in the odd part and the like. I also do more general duties like answering the phone, sorting out the faxes etc etc. I’m looking forward to being able to do more on my own-at the moment I have to bug my poor manager every minute but that can’t really be helped in the early stages I guess…

Aside from work, which now takes up a whole lot of my time as you may be able to imagine, rehearsals for Big Band are becoming more frequent and more terrifying! There are only about 3 weeks to go and it feels like we still have a mass of work to do!! I’m delighted to inform that I have a solo part again! WOOOO I was so made up because there’s a severe shortage of parts this time and I really didn’t expect to be successful. I don’t have a full song, I have the introduction to Birth of the Blues but I really really like the part and it’s nice to have everyone kind of come in after my bit. Steve was so lovely at the last rehearsal…and I hate telling this story because it makes me sound really full of myself but I’m honestly just telling it because it meant so much and was so kind. Basically I rocked up to sing my bit and he says “You’ve caused me so much trouble!” and I was like “How come?” I thought he meant something to do with the sheet music because there’d been a mini mix up but then he said “Because you did such a good audition and I just didn’t have a full solo to give you, I’m really sorry.” and I was like “Oh my God no I love this part, I was chuffed to get anything!” lol I just thought that was such a lovely thing to say and it’s filled me with confidence. I love Steve! Although saying that, we have our first rehearsal with him today and I’m worried about what he’s going to say about how far along we sound because we are pretty behind. He’s the best for giving us a needed kick up the backside though so definitely glad of his presence today!

So yeah, Sing Live is keeping me busy. I have my audition for the Albert Hall concert next week too and I can’t believe that’s just around the corner. I’m having dilemmas about song choice…I kind of want to do I Dreamed a Dream but then I did On My Own from Les Mis for the last concert and I’d quite like to audition with something else this time. Other maybes are Wicked or Beauty and the Beast-I need to hurry up and decide. This one is major and I REALLY want it. Of course if I do get it I’ll have to do a second audition in Leeds and be up against Sing Live’s finest countrywide-eeshk!

I did another audition on Thursday too! Barbara from SL informed me of it the other week because she was auditioning to join BOST (Birkenhead Operatic Society Trust) and wanted to borrow some sheet music from me. I was going to audition for them some time ago but didn’t because the timing wasn’t quite right so I was keen to give it a go when she told me about it. It’s a well respected and high-standard society to join so I wasn’t sure I stood a chance but the audition experience out of the now quite familiar Sing Live seemed a good opportunity, even if it wasn’t to come to anything else. So I went along and sang On My Own to a panel of five. I managed to keep my cool quite well. I was definitely more nervous than I was for my last Sing Live aud for example and it wasn’t perfect, but sounded a lot better than the first time I sang On my Own (which was for my first SL audition.) I then had to do an exercise where I sang the higher or lower note of two that were played at the same time and I was asked a few questions and that was it. I came home and at around 10pm they called me and told me they’d like to see me again when their director is back and have their choreograher see if I can move at all (which I’m a bit worried about because I’m really not a dancer!) I still don’t have my hopes up but it was definitely a boost to get a callback and I really feel now that my singing must have improved-or at least my confidence in auditions, which is great! I’m a bit gutted though because if I do get in their next concert is a musicals one (YAY) but coincides with Albert Hall (BOO!) Nevermind, I would pick RAH given the choice.

That’s about all for now folks! Except that I’m getting PAIDDDDD next week and so will probably get upto a few fun things with mes amis! We’re going to Alton Towers on the 5th and I can’t WAIT! But I am going to try to keep some money in the account for the gazillion reasons that there are to do so. I bought a new mobile last week which was probably something that should have waited until payday but I got a really good deal and it’s SO much better than my old phone! It’s an LG KP501 Cookie and I love it! Couldn’t actually hear my little Samsung which caused me no end of frustration-amongst all the other things that were wrong with it! So aside from making up for that little extravangance, I need to tot up the overdrafts and eventually save up for the next few years! (and possibly for moving out in a few months!! More about that to follow…plans are all very much in the early stages-in fact it’s more an idea than a definite plan but exciting news at that! )

Sarah x