I Don't Always Play for Professional Orchestras. But When I Do, We Record Two Albums and Get Invited to Perform In an International Conference.

One night in August of 2009, I was talking with my mom when she came home from work. She was talking about her day and mentioned that one of her patients told her about a Mormon choir (EVMCO) holding auditions for their symphony. I thought it would be perfect for me to audition to be a cellist because it was my first semester out of high school and I was thirsting to be in some kind of symphonic family again. Not even 24 hours after I sent an interest form to them they emailed me back telling me that my audition would be that night! So, I spent the next 6 hours or so trying to put together some audition pieces. I wasn't too worried about it because as far as I knew, it was a community orchestra.

My audition went really well...I was just in a small church classroom with one of the directors and I played my little heart out. In fact, I remember thinking to myself as I was playing that I sounded like an angel..It really surprised me, I had NEVER heard that kind of playing come from ME before! I knew that I had some extra help in that audition. I didn't even get to finish my audition when he told me that they would love to have me participate in the orchestra. 

Rehearsals were that same night, I had been playing with MCC's orchestra on week nights so I thought it would be similar to that. But I was so wrong. When we were playing for the first time as choir and symphony I knew that this is what I was looking for and what I needed. 

I was so humbled to be in such an amazing organization among professionals and musicians who have been playing or singing much longer than I have been. After my first year playing with EVMCO and seeing the magnitude of this organization, I began to doubt myself and wonder why on earth was I so blessed to be a part of something so beautiful and amazing. I was expressing my frustrations with my dad and he put it so simply I was embarrassed that I didn't think of it sooner. He told me that he knew it wasn't a fluke accident that I made it into this wonderful organization and it was so important that I play in it that Heavenly Father gave me a extra little help during that audition. After taking what my dad said to heart and thinking about it, I knew that this is what I am supposed to be doing for now and that I shouldn't ever doubt myself again. 

One year after that in June 2011, EVMCO and its sister organization in Orange County (OCMCO), joined together in Salt Lake City, Utah as Mormon Choral Organization of America (MCO) to record our first album, Messiah in America, at Abravanel Hall and play a concert in both Abravanel and the Tabernacle in Temple Square. I will never forget the wonderful experience that I had there in Utah. I will never forget the hours and hours of recording we did that week. It was such a humbling experience to see that each of our shows sold out in a state that we weren't even native to and to see thousands of people there supporting us and all of the hard work everyone put into it to make it happen. Our album ended up debuting at #1 on the billboard Traditional Classical charts! Even today when I listen to our CD Messiah in America (1) I am brought back to that time and I get to relive the emotions and excitement that I was feeling at that time when we were recording and (2) I STILL can't believe that I did something like that!!

Later, in February 2012 we recored our very first Christmas Album at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in downtown Phoenix. We worked with OCMCO and we recorded the album separately, EVMCO would record half of the album while OCMCO recorded the other half. So we only spent one (very long) day in the church recording. It was such a special experience for me to be able to record in such a beautiful church! The Christmas Album will be released this Fall (2012) and I am looking forward to its release! 

Almost one week ago, I received very big news about MCO! Here's an excerpt of the email:

"We are excited to announce that the mormon Choral Organizations combined choirs and orchestras have been invited to perform as one of the premier groups at the upcoming ACDA National Conference in Dallas, Texas in March of 2013! ... ACDA stands for American Choral Directors Association. To be invited to perform at a national ACDA conference is an incredible honor. To put it into perspective, the ACDA national conference is like the Oscars of choral music. There are about two dozen ensembles selected to perform out of literally thousands of groups from around the globe."

It's extremely rare for a group as young as ours to be invited to perform at an ACDA National Conference, and we are the largest group to perform there! This is the largest and most important choral stage in the world, and recently they have hosted groups like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Mormon Tabernacle Choir & Orchestra at Temple Square, Toronto Children's Chorus and other prestigious professional and academic groups!

I am so excited for the new opportunities that I have been blessed with and those that I will be getting in the future. Without the loving support that I get from my family, I know that I would not have been possible for me to do the things that I have done or have the experiences that I've had all before I am even 21 years old! 

Here's to the future!!

Pheasants Are Birds, Not People

One thing about me is that I accept weird things without really questioning them.

For instance, my friend Amber and I were driving in my truck one night. Earlier that day, I had gummy worms while driving and one of them had fallen out, but I was a bit too preoccupied at the moment to pick it up. As we were getting out of the car, Amber goes "hey, look! A gummy worm!" and she ate it. I thought it was pretty weird and frankly a little gross, but I thought hey, to each his own! I continued on with my conversation when Amber interrupts, "you didn't really believe that I ate that gummy worm, did you? Because I was joking and I really just threw it on the ground." I was so relieved when I heard this because that's just a little too unsanitary for my taste! ;)

The other night, Shelby, Amber, Mimi, and I were at Sonic enjoying delicious limeades on a hot Arizonian night. We were exchanging stories and the topic of me accepting weird things got brought up, and so I brought up Mimi's favorite story to tell about me.

When I was little, I read a lot of books. If there was a word I didn't know how to pronounce, I would make up a pronunciation for it (In Harry Potter (before the movies) I would pronounce Gryffindor like Gry-find-door, Hermione like Her-me-own, and Slytherin like Sly-there-in). And I didn't know the meaning of a word I would try and figure it out based on how it was used or just skip that word entirely.

Now, when I was young and reading Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World, I was confusing a word with another word that was crucial to the story. 

Here's a plot summary:

"Danny the Champion of the World is a creative novel by Roald Dahl about the life of a boy named Danny. Danny is raised by his father because his mother died when he was young. They live in an old gypsy caravan at the filling station that his father owns. His father is a mechanic who teaches Danny everything that he knows. His father has a dark secret, however. One night, Danny wakes up to find that his father is not in bed. He learns that his father is a pheasant poacher. Danny knows this is stealing, but does not mind so much because his father is stealing from the mean rich man, Mr. Hazell.

Another night Danny’s father does not return from a poaching expedition, so Danny drives a car to go find him. Danny finds his father in a pit on Mr. Hazell’s land. His father got caught by the keepers, who keep watch over the pheasants and dug that pit to catch poachers. Danny rescues his father using a rope from the car, but his father’s leg has been broken by the fall into the pit. They get home and call the doctor, who puts a cast on his father’s leg.

  

Shortly after that, Danny comes up with a brilliant idea for catching pheasants. Their favorite food is raisins so Danny suggests to his father that they put powder from the sleeping pills given to his father for his leg into the raisins so that the pheasants would fall asleep after they eat the raisins. His father thinks it’s a brilliant plan and takes Danny poaching with him to try it out. They carry it out the day before Mr. Hazell’s big pheasant shooting party, and capture 120 pheasants. Danny’s father calls him the “Champion of the World”. Unfortunately, when they finally get the pheasants back to their caravan, all of the pheasants wake up. Mr. Hazell sees all the pheasants around the caravan, but is unable to do anything about, making this the ultimate victory for Danny and his father."

Throughout the entire book, I was reading the word peasants instead of pheasants. I mean, I thought it was a little weird that people lived in trees and I also didn't understand what the big deal was with the peasant hunting parties and drugging those peasants with raisins and making them fall out of their trees, but whatever...and the gypsy caravans didn't help either :) It was weird and not my cup of tea! So, I finished the book and never thought anything of it.

It wasn't until a year or two ago when I was talking with my sister about Roald Dahl books. She said that one of her favorites was Danny the Champion of the World, and I told her that I thought it was really weird. Then she got confused and asked me what the book was about. So I summarized it for her, peasants and all. She goes, "Brittany, pheasants not peasants! They're birds, not people!"

I was quite ashamed that I had gone all those years with a serious misconception of the book! But hey, it makes for a good story!

I guess that my accepting weird things can be good because I don't judge people for being who they are or wearing what they wear, I just accept it. But it can be a bad thing, because obviously miscommunications and misunderstandings can and will happen! :)

Funnies...and Warnings

Last night, I was particularly hyper and Mimi was getting over the flu, so her patience was super low. Finally, after a few minutes of putting up with my crazy, tired self she let me know that I was annoying her. 

Now, I don't know about you guys, but Mimi and I like to compare our relationship with those in movies or T.V. shows. Here are a few examples, in Pride and Prejudice (2005) Mimi is Lizzie and I am Jane. I don't really know why exactly..our personalities just match theirs. In Sense and Sensibility (last Jane Austen reference, I swear), Mimi is Elinor, because that character is so wise and fixes Marianne's and her family's problems despite any problems that she herself is facing. If any of you know Mimi, you would totally agree. I, on the other hand, am Marianne...maybe in the past I was the immature, "young" Marianne..but now I like to think of myself as the Marianne that grows up and falls in love with Alan Rickman. ;) In Modern Family, Mimi and I trade characters a lot. Sometimes, she is Phil or Claire.. or I might be. Although, mostly I think we trade off between Cam and Mitch. We take turns being ridiculous and sensible. 

Anyways, last night I told Mimi that she was like Michael Scott and I was Dwight. I pointed out that she was acting like Michael when he is annoyed of ridiculous Dwight. Mimi laughed and agreed, then went downstairs to go wake up our zombie of a brother because he had fallen asleep watching T.V. While she was downstairs, I was waiting in our front room behind the wall that's right next to the stairs leading up from the basement. I was wanting to "prank" her, so I thought that it was a genius idea to pop my head out from behind the wall while she was walking up the stairs and say "Clarice" like on Silence of the Lambs, but more like how Dwight did it on The Office this season.

It seemed like I was waiting forever for Mimi to come up so that I could scare her. I probably was just waiting 2 or 3 minutes, though. Finally, I heard her coming up, so I peeked my head around the corner and said my line..but she was A LOT closer to the top of the stairs than I thought! Immediately after I did it, I regretted it. Mimi is extremely jumpy and screams at the littlest things. As soon as she saw me, she tripped on the top stair, threw the glass dishes that she was carrying up (filled with salsa) and fell to her knees, she screamed bloody murder, yelled at me saying "YOU SCARED ME!",  and then started bawling! The glass bowls shattered all over the entryway, the front room, and went all over the stairs. All the commotion caused my brother to wake up (who is impossible to wake), my mom came down screaming at us (she is convinced that if you scare someone that you can kill them) and my dad came running over to see if we were hurt. I had recently learned after watching the most recent episode of Modern Family, that I laugh at the most inappropriate moments like Claire inappropriately smiles whenever she says that their neighbor, Walt, passed away. So, while my mom was yelling at us (me) in Spanish, I was dying trying to hold in my uncontrollable laughter. The situation I put us in was absolutely ridiculous! 

When my family cleared the crime scene, Mimi and I were left to clean up the evidence. When Mimi and I were cleaning up, she was trying to piece together what had happened. Because to her, everything happened so quickly. But for me, everything was in slow motion. Mimi wondered how she had fallen to her knees and how the bowls had broken. I told her that it kind of looked like she threw them and then Mimi got upset with me again because I didn't look before I scared her. She asked me, "what if I had been carrying something valuable? What if I was carrying a human?!" I was still so giggly and I asked her "Why on earth would you be carrying a human??" Then Mimi started crying again..After a while, she was still crying but started to chuckle and explained to me that as she was walking up the stairs (before I scared her) she was thinking about an episode of Punk'd she just watched. Demi Lovato gets Punk'd, she is in

the studio and sees a ghost and totally freaks out. 

Lately Mimi has been watching Ghost Hunters so she is especially aware of the paranormal.

Well, as Mimi was going up the stairs she was thinking about how angry she would be if her friends did that to her and tricked her into thinking that she saw a ghost. Just as she thought that, she sees my disembodied head pop around the corner!

I was cracking up as she was explaining this to me and so was she. Then, Mimi asked me what I said to her when I scared her. I was still laughing, but didn't want to tell her because I started to feel bad. She insisted on knowing, and the more she insisted, the more I felt like the worst sister in the world, so in .05 seconds, I went from laughing uncontrollably to sobbing hysterically. Mimi got this "WTF" look on her face, then I started visualizing this scene as a third party and saw how crazy ridiculous I looked, sitting in the middle of the room with glass surrounding us, and then started laughing again. Mimi looked even more confused, then I felt bad again and started sobbing. Mimi then looked at me like I was crazy, then I visualized how I looked to her and started laughing really hard. Mimi asked me what was happening, then I started sobbing again. It went back and forth a few more times. 

I had never, ever, experienced such a wide range of emotions in a blink of an eye..it scared me. But not as much as witnessing, first hand, the effects of scaring my jumpy, paranoid sister. 

So to any of you out there that may get the smart idea to scare Mimi, don't do it. Who knows, maybe something even worse can happen. In this case, at least a funny story came out of it and a possible movie scene for our future films.

THE Update

Hello, all! Although I haven't gotten an official email yet, I feel that I should update everyone on my Disney application.

Monday night, I got on Facebook and saw that a few people on the DCP (Disney College Program) Facebook page had their statuses on their dashboard's change from "in progress" to "no longer in consideration". Immediately, I logged onto my dashboard and there it was..."no longer in consideration". At first, I didn't believe it, maybe it was a glitch? Especially because once they update your dashboard an email will be sent out to you, and since I didn't get one I thought it was a mistake. I've done some research, and it seems it's common to not get a "rejection email" right away.

Once I finally accepted the fact that I didn't get in for Fall 2012 I was so sad. But then I thought about all the good things that I wouldn't have to miss.

- I get to be home for the holidays

- There's this huge Leavitt family reunion this Thanksgiving, and I can go now!

- I will GRADUATE!!

- I get to see my best friend, Shelby, leave for her mission!

- I will be here when my friends come home from their missions!

- I can help Mimi expand our company, Float Away Films. 

- And last, but probably the best thing, I don't have to leave my dog!!! 

Boston is on the left :)

I'm sad that I am not going to be going with Amber this year though. All of us (me, Amber, Shelby) are going on different paths this year. Shelby's leaving for her mission, Amber's leaving for Disney, and I'm...who knows! Sometimes you have to grow apart to grow together.

It is bittersweet that I am not going this year, it's a blessing that I didn't know I needed or wanted. I plan to reapply in the future, I just can't decide if I want to go for Spring 2013 or Fall 2013. 

:)

Good things come to those who wait

I know a lot of you may be wondering (or not, that's okay!) if I've heard back from Disney yet... and I have not. But hopefully I will hear back soon! It's just frustrating right now because I have somewhat of an outline of the possible courses my life can take for the rest of 2012, but I cant really plan for much. I just want to know now, haha!! But my brother was being very supportive and reminded me that good things come to those who wait. I have just got to work on my patience ;)

I've been trying to keep busy with life so that I don't have a bunch of free time thinking about my possible Disney future. I've been busy with Float Away Films and filming weddings. Our company (meaning my sister, Mimi) finally invested in a Sennheiser lav mic! So far, it's made my job sooo much easier and better sounding when it comes to the interviews. I'm movin' on up from just using the H4N :P

I recently opened up my work schedule at the theater, so now I may work more than one day a week! So now (hopefully), all my "free time" that I did have will be consumed by school, work, and filming.

And if I do ever have a free moment (instead of sleeping), I've recently started up Mobach Fans again, haha. Season four is just about to start, they're trying to pick a new bachelor to star in this season. Thinking back to Mobach times last summer makes me miss those adventure filled months! Going into that summer I had no idea I would be dedicating my life (literally!) to a reality based web show and spending roughly 80 hours a week with people who were once strangers or in the editing bay with Mimi.

Anyways, long story short..I'm keeping myself busy until I hear from Disney! 

Disney Update

So, I got an email from Disney about 3 days after my interview informing me that I have been pended. I've read online on the Disney blog that being pended isn't necessarily a bad thing. They just need more time choosing where to place me and what not. I've read blogs and forums where people say the opposite, but I wont let all that get to me. :) And silly me, I didn't realize that that said email I got was the dreaded "pending email" until late last night! I take it as a good sign, the email simply said:
"Thank you for taking the time to interview for the Disney College Program!
We are currently processing you application, and at this time your status is pending a final decision.
...you will be contacted with an update on the status of your application by April 25, 2012."
I don't know, to me it didn't seem like a bad thing, it seemed to me that they were just letting me know that they're working on things so that I wouldn't be completely in the dark. 
Now there's a few things that can happen after the interview. You can either get rejected (which usually takes a few days), you can get accepted (1-2 weeks), or you can get pended. After you've been pended, you can hear back whether you've been accepted or rejected within a few days, a few weeks or a few months! I will at least know for sure whether or not I'm going this Fall by April 25! 
I would absolutely love, love, LOVE to be in the program this Fall, but if it doesn't happen, that's okay with me! Let's look at what can happen if I go this Fall:
1. I will work at DISNEY and get into the park for FREE! 2. I will be at Disney for all the major holidays! Disneyland? On Christmas?!?! :D3. I will most likely be going with one of my best friends, Amber! And we'll be roommates!
If I don't end up going this Fall:
1. I will be home for the holidays! 2. I wont have to quit all of my jobs.3. I will get to see one of my best friends, Shelby, leave for her mission!4. I will get to see all of my other friends return home from their missions!5. I can save more money.6. And last but not least, I will graduate with my degree in Audio Productions/Sound Design in December!! :)
Everything happens for a reason. It would be awesome if I get to go to California this year, but if I don't I will still accomplish a lot here in Mesa! It's all about timing and FATE!  ;)
If I don't get in this time, I can always try again for the next semester! :)
I promise I'll update my blog when I get an answer from them!!

Big Week!

So, as some of you know, my phone interview with Disney was last Tuesday. I think it went GREAT!My interviewer asked me general questions like why I wanted to work for Disney, a few scenario questions, and asked me about my previous work/volunteer experiences. I was sick with a horrible cold/cough/ear infection that lasted over a WEEK! But during my interview I had no need to cough, my voice sounded good and I didn't feel sick at all! Afterwords though,when the adrenaline went away I was reminded that I was indeed sick. Truly a blessing! :) I wont find anything for a few weeks, my interviewer said three weeks, but I think it could be longer. I got an email saying that I will find out anytime before April 25! If Amber and I don't get in, I think it will be because we applied for the internship so late (late meaning not the day applications went live), and we only applied for Disneyland and not Disney World. But whatever happens is supposed to happen! If I don't get in this time, I'll try out again for the next semester! :)
And yes, I did wear my Mickey ears during the interview.

This past Thursday I went with my group, MCO, and recorded our Christmas album at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Downtown Phoenix. The church was so beautiful, there was stained glass windows all over and when the sun was setting it cast this golden hue throughout the hall! And the acoustics in the place were AMAZING!

I couldn't find a picture of the inside of the church here in Phoenix, but I did find a similar image for the church in Illinois. It's slightly different, but still beautiful!

It was an amazing experience! It was a long and tiring 9 hours of recording but it will be so worth it once we hear the final product! Be ready for some great Christmas music later this year!! :)

P.S. Our album Messiah in America that we recorded in June of 2011 at Abravanel Hall debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical charts!! 

Disney?

My sister Mimi and I have always dreamed of one day working for Disney making movies or doing something AWESOME! I love Disney with all my heart, my family and I even have annual passes this year.. that expire in April :(.After much thought and deliberation, one of my best friends Amber, and I have made the decision to apply to intern for the Disney College Program! It's a paid internship for 5 months, August-January, and we'd get into the parks for free! And we'd get to work for DISNEY! How awesome is that?! Well, both Amber and I have applied, got invited to take the web based interview, and now all that's left to do is to have a phone interview! Mine is tomorrow at 11:30. I'm kinda freaking out about this step! I haven't had to interview for a job since I worked for the symphony when I was 18! And to top it off, I've been fighting a cold/sickness thing, so my voice is not at it's best! Anyways, I hope we both get it. I mean, why wouldn't we? We're THE BEST! 

Any and all positive thoughts are welcome! :)

2012!

I have a feeling that 2012 is THE year.

I graduate school this year with my degree in sound design, I'm going to film school next. Who knows what's in store, but I feel that it's going to be awesome!

Well, of course it's going to be awesome...I started out my year off right by celebrating New Years at the most happiest place on earth!

And man was it happy making! :)

And packed. I've never seen so many people there before! I've been for New Years before too! There's seriously no crowd like a Disney crowd, though. Usually I get super claustrophobic, but I don't even notice it there!

The CD that we recorded in Salt Lake, Messiah in America, has debuted #1 in Billboard's Traditional Classical charts!! MCO starts recording a Christmas album towards the end of this month, get ready for awesome music this upcoming winter!!

I can't wait to see what this new year brings! :) :) :)

Wowza.

So, a few posts ago I made a list of all the things that I was going to do this summer..and I'm here to report that I have only completed TWO things!

-Finish LOST

and

-Get a "real" job . . . (well, it felt dang real to me!)

Okay, let me explain.

I finished LOST. And. It. Was. Awesome.

Okay, in early June I went to Utah.
I never thought I would love it as much as I did!! I especially loved Salt Lake City! I went with my EVMCO group combined with the OCMCO group (together we're Mormon Choral Organization of America MCO :P) and we recorded an album at Abravanel Hall and played two SOLD OUT concerts! One at the TABERNACLE and the other at Abravanel Hall!
I felt like I was in one big dream. All throughout my high school and jr. high existence all I wanted was to be in a DECENT orchestra...and no offense, jr. high and high school orchestras aren't the best...well at least at the schools that I went to. And two years after high school I'm in UTAH recording a CD and playing sold out performances with a PROFESSIONAL group!!!
I was elated. I thought that that would be the (only) highlight of my summer.

(Sorry I'm using all caps. Writing about all this is getting me all excited again. It STILL feels unreal to me.
I did that?!)

Oh, did I mention that I traveled to 8 different states with my fam? AND two dogs?! We're crazy, right? It was my favorite vacation! :)

THEN, at the end of June my sister, Mimi, got an awesome job filming/editing for The Mormon Bachelorette. A few days into her job, she finds out that they are in need of a sound person . . . and she just happened to have a sister studying audio production and her life goal is to work for film doing sound . . . so, I got the job.
At first I was terrified, I didn't know what to expect! But after my first day of shooting (their fifth day) I loved it! I work with the best crew anyone could ever ask for and with the best director (Luke Johnson) anyone could ever have! I've met so many awesome people and have done so many cool things! Like, go to the lake, go to an Alex Boye concert, go to fancy dances at fancy hotels, eat at so many different and cool restaurants, talk to people that I never would before (like John Bytheway!!)...there's so much more but it's way too much to write about, if you wanna see what I did, then just go watch the episodes yourself! ;) A few crew members and I have even started a website for Mobach! And I've even made that site cuter than my own blog! It has raked in more than 7,300 view in less than two months!! I have learned so much by doing Mobach this summer. And because I did Mobach, I was able to go to the beach in Cali to help film a commercial  for Propusganda . I've had the opportunity to help other Mobach crew members shoot short films!
This is the best summer that I've ever had. Ever. Period.

Now that school is back in session, my work life has cooled down considerably....kinda. I'm certainly not working 80 hour weeks anymore! Haha! I love my classes this semester, even though I have an extremely sexist teacher, I still love that class. He doesn't quite know my full potential yet, but I'll show him! ;) I just know that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing and it feels dang good to know that. :)