Total Immersion

Finally coming up for air. Last Wednesday, I went out to Actors' Summit to play for the directors, which entailed learning the two hardest passages from the show in about 20 minutes to give them a rough idea of how fast I could learn. I liked their energy and we have an easy rapport. I did get the job. I got a copy of the original Broadway cast CD, the piano score, and a contract for one rehearsal this Wednesday night and 11 performances, starting Saturday. Some of the CD recording is different from the score, and whenever it's different we're doing it like the CD.

Starting last Wednesday afternoon, I have been eating, sleeping and breathing this score, practicing up to 4 hours a day, taking breaks every hour to go for a bike ride or do a little yoga, listening to the CD constantly, and writing out the parts that are different in my lazy, music-score-free code that nobody else can read. Most of it I can now play well enough to play along with the CD so I can get used to the vocal parts, cues and tempo changes. It's working. Snippets of the show are now the soundtrack of my subconcious, which means it's sinking in. I still have things to clean up, but now I can play the whole thing (well over an hour of music).

Good thing, too. My first--and only--rehearsal is the day after tomorrow, and I really want to make a good impression and do a good job. I've been really physically tired from this, especially the first 3 days, but also energized. It couldn't have come at a better time in my schedule, as last week was my week off from CSD before the summer session started today, and I would have had nothing to do. I am just not used to that kind of intense practicing, though. I can't do more than 4 hours or the fatigue gets to be too much. My brain can only absorb so much information at a time anyhow. I think without the workouts I would have much less focus and stamina, yet another reason to keep it up.

Today, I went back to work at CSD. It was muggy and hit 95 degrees (our hottest day so far this year), but I still managed two round trips there by bike (I had a 3-hour break between classes) for a total of 16 miles riding. My first ride there, a month ago, took me 26 minutes to get there, and today's second trip took me only 21! (It takes about 12-15 minutes to drive, depending on the traffic.) It still feels strenuous (lots of hills) but it is noticably easier. I like seeing that sort of progress in such a short time.