O Mio Babbino Caro

I made some substantial improvement in my singing lesson. The teacher started to praise me even though encouragement has never been part of his teaching method. He helped me find the new physical positioning in the back of my throat. Right now, I do get to the right point, but it feels awkward to sing the words so differently than how I would sound saying them. I understand it takes time, efforts and tricks to make it habitual.

The new trick that I want to experiment with is making me so excited. I am going to switch my focus song to an Italian one, the classic soprano piece "O mio babbino caro." Since I don't know the language, I will not be hesitant about what's the correct way to sound the words as long as I make the sound in the song. My teacher introduced me to the recording. I came home and found Maria Callas' "La Divine" in our collection. Two rounds of playing later, I got the melody. I also got the full version of the lyrics on the internet. Saturday night, at the surprise party, Julie and I learnt the lyrics word for word from a law student from Italy. I am going to devote the whole week listening to Callas' singing. Maybe I will buy lunch for one of my Italian colleagues to get the lyrics correct. "R" is the biggest obstacle of all.