Friday, July 29, 2011

Cover Letter = Ahhhhh!!!!

Hello Friends and Family!

I am writing this blog on account of my feelings towards cover letters =)

I've always found it hard to talk about myself, so when I think about my future in the performance world, I can't help but get nervous thinking that for the rest of my life (or at least until I have satisfied my inner artist) I have to sell myself as a product and "talk myself up".

One of the assignments in our business class it to write a cover letter to a manager.  I have never written one of these before so I find the task quite daunting.  I mean I can't tell if I am getting too personal, writing too much, writing too little?  I can't tell whether or not this letter is really going to sell who I am or even if it will get me an interview.  One of the things I have always felt confident about is my personality.  I seriously could sit and talk with a person for hours, even if we have absolutely nothing in common.  So how do I sell myself in a few paragraphs or less to get them to want to meet with me?  If anyone has any ideas please let me know! =)

To be honest... I have never been one with "the words".  My college essays weren't A+ papers like many of my friends and I sometimes find it hard to express what I truly mean or how I really feel. Which is why performance has become the drive of my life.  I feel like when I perform, I don't even need to say anything... it simply is expressed through what I am doing.  I've always been a firm believer in "actions speak louder than words" and I as a performer live through that statement.  I wish there was another way besides writing a letter to get an agent or manager to interview me, or as I like to say... get them to know who I really am and appreciate my product.

In the end... we're all looking for the same thing.  We all want to be seen and heard and in the end it is going to be based upon: what you have in common, connections, and simply what they need in that moment of time.

So hopefully this letter turns out lovely; and hopefully Honey what they are craving that day! ;-P

*HUGS!*
Honey

Sunday, July 24, 2011

I am... Honey Fierce

Hello my friends, family and fellow bloggers!

Yesterday I went to an all day audition for the NBC television show "The Voice".  It was so much fun! My darling brother and I woke up at 5:30am (which ain't bad compared to some of the auditions I've been to), jumped on a train to port authority, road a bus over to jersey and walked to the IZOD center from the bus stop.  We finally got in line at around 8am and for my 2pm audition slot.  Thankfully we were one of the first people there for my audition time so we both felt happy about leaving at the time we did.  After making friends with the people in line and getting baked by the hot summer sun, Grant was asked to step out of line so that I could enter into the grand stadium by myself.
After waiting 5 hours out in the 100 degree weather, I walked into the blast of ice cold air and registered for my chance to sing before a judge.  It had been another 2 and a half hours before I was seen.  When the time finally came, my group of 10 went into a small, dark room and each of us got up to sing before a blonde woman, no older than 25 years old.
I was the second to last person to sing my song and as I got up everyone in the small room cheered for me.  I smiled internally and externally as I stood up and walked to the center of the room.  There I stood in my ruffled dress, tan heels and jean jacket as I cheerfully introduced my song "River Deep Mountain High."  My mouth opened as I blasted my first note.  I made sure that the song I chose was balanced enough so that whoever I sang for would get a full taste of what my voice sounded like in head, chest, mix and belt voice.

After I sang my song the judge smiled at me and thanked me.  Another girl sitting in the seats that I became friends with in line threw her hat at me and told me to "get the hell out" haha.  Everyone cheered  and laughed because they did not expect the sound that came out of my body.

After the 10th person sang, the judge said that no one in our group made it but we were so close and to try again next year.  I have been told by people I know through these shows that there are certain rooms who can choose tons of people, some rooms that can only choose a few people and some rooms are just unlucky rooms and do not get to choose anyone.  I honestly feel that I got the room that chose no one because there were a handful of beyond amazing singers in my group and not one of them went through.

After I walked out of the IZOD Center with my new friends they all expressed their feelings about my voice and how they weren't expecting what they heard to come out of my mouth.  They expected some Taylor Swift, country song or simple, all-american sound, which brings me to my whole point of writing this blog today.

Sometime I sit and think about school, performing, and just life. I contemplate the "type" of person I appear to be, am told to be, or would be best marketed as.  But is this my true passion?  I do love singing country music and I do love curling my hair to look cute for a day or two.  And, lets be honest, I am a good girl raised in Minnesota by a good family so I have turned out with a personality that settles well with the all around "good, all-american girl".  This is all fine, it really is; and it is definitely a character I would love to play.  But at the end of the day... I cuss sometimes, and I wear dark makeup, and I sing a song where I'm riffing or belting my face off.

My point is... we all play a character in life. I do sell well as the all-american girl, but my voice sure doesn't.  I sound like an r&b or pop singer and have been told many times that this is not the music I should sing because it does not fit my look.  Well... I disagree!  If I can sing it and it is what I love, nothing will stand in the way of it.  But I will not forget what brought me to this place.  I am still a girl from Minnesota, who goes to church every sunday, wears sundresses and treats people with the respect they deserve.  Therefore, I will not run away from what I am "thought to be", however I will not limit myself only to that.

I am... Honey Fierce

*HUGS!*
Honey

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Hello my friends!

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!
This has been a crazy busy week, but it's finally starting to wind down.  This weekend is going to be full of refining music, my book, headshots and resumes.  I'm really looking forward to organizing my artistic life.  I still feel like I have so many questions and second thoughts about songs in my book.  I mean... "Is this song too old for me or isn't it?" "Is this too dark?" "Is this too corny?"... I mean I guess it's all an opinion anyway.  No one will ever feel the same exact way about something and I guess instead of trying to please other people what I really need to start doing in order to make myself feel more confident in my performances and auditions is please myself.

Of course there are rules to that statement, but I feel like those of us who are artists trying to break out into the world really need to first and foremost love the piece of material we are using to audition, because if you don't, then what is the point in all of this.

I finally found a song I believe to be truly me.  I am a fun-loving girl, who is madly in love, I am bubbly, hopeful, and young.  On top of all of that I love singing pop/rock music, belting, yet also using other variations of my voice... and I feel like the song I have found finally does all of this!
I would love to sing it for Showcase so I hope when I bring it in, the directors all agree with me.

Anyways... it has been a long few days and I am going to sleepy sleep now.  Goodnight loves!  Sleep good!

*HUG!*
Honey

Monday, July 11, 2011

A fun Weekend!

Well hello my friends!

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!  I simply must write about mine.

Well... this weekend I had a friend of mine from Minnesota come in town.  We've been friends since high school and she decided to come out for a mini vacation.  I have to tell you... it was so nice not doing work for once.  I mean I still walked dogs and babysat, but nothing I did was not something I didn't enjoy.

It was so wonderful we spent the afternoon on Friday walking the dogs together, then grabbing a quick lunch at a little cafe in the west side.  Then that evening we ordered Thai food and went to see "Spiderman Turn of the Dark" on the Broadway.  It was actually surprisingly good!  So many people were either completely in love with it or completely not.  I was happy I got to see it!After the show we went out for a little Juniors dessert which was of course... AMAZING!

Saturday we went to Central Park and laid out in the hot sun, went for a walk, and later that evening I went to babysit.  Later that night we met up for dessert again at Juniors (yes I am obsessed... it's ok) and walked all the way home because it was such a gorgeous night.

Sunday she left, and I actually had to do some work, so I finished another youtube video for the week.  The "Monster" video I put up last week already hit 1,000 views so thank you so much for watching.  It truly does mean the world to me to know that I have such a supportive group of people who've gt my back.  I love you all... and like I said... before I leave anyone I always...

*HUG!*
Honey :-)

Monday, July 4, 2011

New Video!

Hello my dear Friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I know most of you are off of work today due to the holiday, so I thought I would post and keep you informed on what's going on and share a few random thoughts.

This weekend has been a little stressful... I decided that I'm not completely fond of all the songs I chose as options for my final showcase performance, so with tons if research I have finally began finding material I truly love and think with showcase who I am splendidly.  One problem though... none of the sheets are available.  When it comes to finding sheet music I truly believe I am the queen, not only because I know tons of websites and random connections, but because I have a boyfriend who is kind of a techie and can find ways to get random things.  Neither of us can find the music for any of these songs.  However, a dear friend of mine has a friend who is willing to compose it for me in a piano score which is unbelievable! I wish I had that skill!

Other than that I have been busy kitty/house sitting at my friend's beautiful apartment.  It has been nice to get away for a bit and see what it is like to live with an animal again.  The cat is a sweetheart!!!

I have also been trying to get a new youtube video up.  Finally both Matt and I buckled down of Friday night and composed my newest video, which is of me performing Paramore's newest single from the motion picture Transformer's 3... "Monster".  Matt did all of the work for this, I just sat there and sang... gotta love technically gifted people.  He truly does have a great eye... and this is just him messing around... you should see him when he is actually working his hardest.  He composes masterpieces.  Bu this is just us messing around, doing what we both love to do.  We'll make a new one in the next month... this is just a test run to see how it all came together.

Anyways, feel free to check it out.  I always love the support of friends and family. and please... if you like the video "like" it on youtube if you have time.
I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!

*HUG!*
Honey