July 27, 2009 First Step, Registration

On Monday, the three of us climbed in the tired old Ford Tempo and drove up to Seattle for the convention registration. We weren’t so lucky with traffic this time and were about 15 minutes late. I was a little flustered, hoping it wasn’t a negative “first impression” of us. (Checkout our archives for background info.)

We once again rode the elevator up through the elegant downtown Macy’s building to the 7th floor. This is where JRP (John Robert Powers Academy) has their spacious suite of offices and classrooms. The walls are lined with gigantic black & white portraits of icons like Jackie Kennedy, Kathryn Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Diana Ross, all who were at one time students of the John Robert Powers training.

Quietly, we found some spots at a round table. We were late and the presentation had begun. We were each given a white binder with tabbed sections. There were sections with forms to fill out, a section with the itinerary of our 10-week mandatory training and the schedule of events at the convention, and there was the all-important section called “Fundraising”.

Robert spoke first regarding the process of training and gave an over-view of the convention. He is an articulate, pleasant man very neatly dressed in a conservative suit and tie. He is the director of both the Seattle and the Sacramento, California JRP programs. He introduced us to Annavon, our Seattle director who would be with us “every step of the way” to the convention.

Annavon is tall, elegant, very articulate and enthusiastic. She seems very professional and has been guiding performers through the iPOP convention process for years. She gave a creative presentation on fundraising idea, sharing what students have done in past years. She mentioned that currently, a parent organizes groups of volunteers to sell concessions at Qwest field during sporting events every year. Those who volunteer split the profits and it goes to the kids’ JRP account. The intriguing thing is, if we get our friends to volunteer all their share of the profits will also go to our kids. I made sure I was on that sign-up sheet.

The meeting ended. It was time to pay the deposit. In our notebooks was a precise, itemized cost for all the training, travel and convention fees. It was clearly explained that the deposit was non-refundable. If for some reason we weren’t able to raise all the needed money for the trip the money would be applied to the next iPOP convention trip which would happen in 6 months.

I thought of past times when several of our kids were invited to travel with a school class to Washington, DC. We never let them participate mostly due to the cost and the required fundraisers. I thought of the fundraising in the past for our kids to go to drum major camp and band competitions. I reflected on the moment I turned down a trip to Germany in college with my German class because of the cost. Then I thought of the determination of our other daughter who figured out how to gather funds for a study abroad trip around the world. I also recalled a young and gifted harpist in our community, Emily Endicott. She was ready in her training to move up to a professional harp, an instrument with a price tag of several thousand dollars. She chose to invite our community to help her raise the funds, and she gave harp performances until finally she raised all the money she needed for her new instrument.

The nice thing about our small town is that when the community is motivated they do amazing things with helping others. Many people know our family; we’ve been here a long time and participated in many community programs. It seems like people would be excited for Maria and James and want to help with this.

I looked at Maria and James. Decision time was here, and it rested heavily on Maria because she had volunteered to pay the deposit money with her own funds for both she and James. Maria said, “I am doing this because I know it is the right step for me. I am still willing to help James.”

And so, the money was paid, the commitment made and we will move forward with optimism.

July 26, 2009 Call Backs !!

We didn’t actually hover over the phone, but we were very aware of the phone’s silence as we got ready to go to church this morning. The JRP person told us that everyone that auditioned would get a phone call with their decision. (Read about the audition in the July 25 archived post)

I was hopeful for James & Maria, and I was aware that I needed to continue planning on how to make my way back into the music scene regardless of the outcome from my audition. I am astounded that I can sing again after the trauma of having a paralyzed vocal chord. I am looking forward to seeing what I can do now that I can sing again.

Waiting for the phone call, I think James was feeling nervous, apprehensive…He is still unaware of what a gifted singer he is, which is why he is so enjoyable to be around,I suppose. Music seems to be just joy to him, regardless if anyone is listening or not. He really, really wants to go to Los Angeles and perform, I think, to feel like he is moving forward in his musical path. Maria has loved theater and music “forever” and hopes to have a career in the entertainment field, preferably acting.

So there we were watching the clock, glancing at the phone. Then it rang. I answered and it was Robert from JRP. I switched to speaker phone so James could listen in. After a few minutes Maria drifted in to hear the conversation as well.

Robert said that our audition judge, Tiffany, the VP from the iPOP national organization was very pleased with our auditions. She felt that James and Maria were very “marketable” and would make some great contacts in Los Angeles; she invited them to perform at iPOP in January.

James’ face was very animated, large blue eyes and a big grin. Maria was smiling. I was happy for them. In the back of my mind I also knew we were in for a huge fundraising objective. A bit of queasiness for me regarding the money….

Robert then said that Tiffany did some checking on the potential line-up of agents at the convention that represented adults, not just teens or children. She said that there would be a few, but not a large group of them. She really liked my audition and decided that she wanted to leave it up to me because with only a few agents there it may not be worth all the effort for me to go to the convention. She said that if Maria and James raised the money for their part of the convention training and trip that she would “comp” me to go with them. Free air travel, free hotel, free convention fees, etc. So, Tiffany said that I could either go as a parent chaperone or I could choose to go as a performer and compete in the adult category at the iPOP convention.

Wow, no long contemplation required by me over that choice. “I’d like to go as a performer,” I said and James and Maria smiled. The three of us were embarking on a great adventure.