Time for a Tune-Up

The past two days have been awesome…minus the fact that my luggage didn’t arrive until Tuesday night.  On Tuesday I met with my vocal coach and accompanist for about 2.5 hours of lessons.  I am very impressed with the vocal instructor, Monica Benevenuti.  She says that everyone in Italy wants to be a singer and that no one knows how to teach, but I think she is very modest.  Monica travels the world performing with symphonies in Japan, Brazil, China, and of course many other European countries.  She also has many students and is quite good at teaching vocal technique.  My accompanist is also very good and has been helping me with my diction, expression, and general interpretation of the pieces for my recital. 

Also on Tuesday, my mother and I toured the Boboli Gardens.  This palace is very expansive and the view from the gardens is amazing.  We crossed the Ponte Vecchio to arrive at the palace.  This bridge is a medieval structure that contains nothing but jewelry shops.  And of course we had our first sample of gelato…with many more to follow I am sure.

Wednesday we took a tour of Siena and San Gimignano, two Tuscan cities with so much character and beauty.  The pictures cannot do these cities justice, but check them out!  No lessons today or tomorrow…just practice.  

 Some of you may know that I am currently staying with an Italian teacher named Vincenzo.  He speaks very little English…we play charades quite often.  Furthermore, there is one other student staying here as well and he is from Japan…he also speaks little to no English.  I am relying on my years of high school French and the few words I know in Italian from singing to get along…let me clarify in saying that I can count on my hands and toes the number of words I know in each language!  It is quite a site for us to sit down at dinner and try to guess what each other is saying.  Vincenzo has a friend in NC who we have already skyped with twice to clarify what each other is saying.  His cooking is superb and the home is nice, but down a scary alley!  In fact, that is how my mom and I know we are home…look for the pharmacy with all of the graffiti!  Ah…home sweet home!  He is also crazy about us showering before we eat dinner…I know it’s hot, but I didn’t think we were getting that stinky!  I asked him about running the other day and he laughed and told me there is no running in Florence.   The homestay was definitely the way to go…you can learn a lot about the Italian culture by staying with a Florentine!