Cio-cio San's decline and the Art of the Pedal

One of my favourite operas, "Madama Butterfly", is playing in the background as I write my first entry of the week. Today, I inaugurated the t-shirt I bought from the Metropolitan Opera House "opera shop". It's bright blue and says MAESTRO! with big letters on the front. It was a case of perfect timing, actually, because we had a Dominante rehearsal, and Seppo Murto, the conductor, had been telling me that he'd like to get himself a t-shirt where it says "Conductor" and me one where it says "Pianist", but now I got the better of him.

The pedal of the piano where Dominante rehearses is so high that after accompanying two hours of Bach's B minor mass my leg feels completely cramped. My friends told me that I should just stretch it against the direction the veins are stretching, but I can't tell in which direction the veins are stretching and I've tried every possible direction anyway, so I just have to hope I'll be able to walk tomorrow. This definitely means a break from any pedals (not very easy because of a certain instrument which has seven of them).

Tomorrow, I have a great ambition: as my first lesson is only at 11, I've planned to actually go an hour earlier to practise the piano. This is because my teacher came back from her trip to the Emirates and I've got a lesson on Thursday. Also, my singing teacher Johanna came back from Oulu (the Emirates isn't for everyone, after all) and I had a lesson today. She said a great thing today, which was: "Everyone should sing and play Mozart" and that's completely true. However, I'm now frantically searching Puccini's operas for at least a LITTLE aria which doesn't involve Pavarotti-like swellings to a high C. The composer is one of the biggest geniuses to have roamed the earth, but he wasn't especially easy on the rest of us who are not blessed with the art of the high tenor.

I also had a lesson of music analysis today. Usually, we're about three or four in the class, so picture my surprise when I arrived a bit late today (blame the Helsinki Transit System) to find almost every seat taken! Then I realised that it was the last lesson before an exam. I also gave a lesson today in CM, which was really fun! The boys always make me laugh with their crazy ideas and comments. Today, I had a hard time keeping them quiet because I myself was almost splitting with laughter at various points.

You know, it's actually quite scary to know my texts are just out there for virtually ANYONE to read. I'll soon have to be careful about what I write concerning different people. Maybe my entries will soon read something like: "Had lunch today, tasted really good. Cloudy weather."
Madama Butterfly's tragic death is in around 15 minutes and I have to get going now anyway. I'd just like to say thanks to all my devoted readers out there! I couldn't do it without you!