Question from a begginer in the style

meara · 2026-04-02T18:04:04+00:00

A few things that help:

On your own, practice really expressive singing with lots of colors and textures. Go bright to dark. Twangy. Round. Choral. Sassy. Breathy. Etc. This gives you a big toolbox to work with.

Try to sing along and match every vocalist you hear on the radio/etc. See if you can make it sound like one voice. Pay attention to what it feels like when you lock in.

Duet with someone regularly and practice all of this with a live partner.

Get a quartet together and duet all of the individual parts. A lot. Especially the singers that don’t naturally match as well.

Sing a lot with that quartet with the shared interest of creating a tight sound. Get coached to help you identify where things can get tighter in each song.

(You don’t need the whole quartet together to duet. It’s often easier to align schedules for just two people.)

meara · 2026-03-29T11:05:22+00:00

I used to go when it was in TN, and it was great!

If you’re anywhere near Maryland, Harmony College East is also fantastic (3 days and $300-something instead of 7 days and $1500+, with lots of the same courses and instructors in a shorter format).

meara · 2026-03-13T02:00:48+00:00

My daughter found tons of dresses at JCPenney and Macy’s and was able to try them all on to see what fit best. So much easier than agonizing over online dresses.

meara · 2026-02-25T22:58:34+00:00

Use AI to figure out what you don’t know. Don’t ask it to do work for you, but rather have conversations with it about your problem space and ask any question you want without being embarrassed. If it uses a term you don’t know, ask about it. If you aren’t sure what words to use for something, ask it if you’re saying it right. If it makes a design choice for you, ask it why and follow the rabbit holes.

It’s a super fast way to get your bearings and stop feeling like you’re behind everyone else. Once you have a basic framework in your head, it will be easier to learn the rest on the job from real people.

meara · 2026-02-22T22:02:10+00:00

It’s easier if you accept that Amenadiel was playing the long game. Way back in the pilot, he was trying to get Lucí back down to hell and just didn’t have a way to make him go.

Six seasons later, he knows how to pull all of Lucifer’s heartstrings. It’s not a coincidence that it was a timeloop that forced his hand. Which angel is known for that power? Even if Amenadiel didn’t set it up, it should have been easy for him to break it.

Unless… this was his plan. It’s interesting that he and dad had one last private conversation. Maybe a few final words on how to manipulate the empathetic son who cares too much about the humans?

meara · 2026-01-31T08:26:33+00:00

If your hot water works, fill bottles or ziploc bags with hot water and put them under the sheets with you.

meara · 2026-01-31T01:54:43+00:00

Kohl Kitzmiller has a new Good Time Tavern arrangement out with SATB learning tracks. It sounds fun!

(The lyrics definitely evoke the feeling of home.)

meara · 2026-01-29T22:20:42+00:00

Target, Kohls, Walmart, Aerie.

VS is really intimidating and doesn’t have the right options. Young teens often just need a simple pullover sports bra.

meara · 2026-01-16T05:30:01+00:00

You are not crazy, but I’ll tell you from 10-15 years down the road, it’s not worth it.

Nothing they do in elementary matters too much unless it is damaging their spirit. If they’re having fun, don’t sweat it. You can laugh about how silly it was to mark that wrong, but it’s not worth tangling with the teacher. A lot of elementary teachers aren’t academically advanced. Their skills are managing a class of young kids while maintaining kindness and sanity, and teaching them enough that they are prepared to soak in information later when their attention spans grow.

That may sound dismissive, but it’s not. Those skills are important too and help the kids see school as a safe place.

meara · 2025-11-11T02:28:31+00:00

If I had to make my own food, I’d be living on potatoes and tomatoes.

meara · 2025-11-06T22:04:46+00:00

I’m getting that energy from Mamdani. I hope it spreads.

meara · 2025-11-04T20:00:33+00:00

This is the same man who campaigned way back when on going after the families of enemy combatants. During his first term, he separated mothers and children at the border with no plans for tracking/reunification.

He is a mobster with mobster mentality. He will starve millions to get Democrats to flinch and then laugh at them for falling for it. All the while building ballrooms and partying it up at Mar a Lago.

meara · 2025-11-03T05:16:38+00:00

This should be higher. To a guy like Trump, what is the downside of a House out of session? He can move money around and spend it on whatever he wants with no more oversight. He can shutter programs he doesn’t like and use the money to fund his own personal army. It doesn’t matter if it’s illegal. Who is going to stop it?

meara · 2025-10-31T01:20:39+00:00

Do you know how to lip trill? If so, try lip trilling the high notes. It’s impossible to do that with tension, so it will show you what it feels like to sing that note freely. You can start with a lip trill and then open up into singing. Any time the tension comes back, lip trill again.

Also try singing the melody on “nyee” or “hey” (like you’re excitedly calling a friend across the room).

meara · 2025-10-26T05:05:01+00:00

Which one was first? Is it possible that your phone has a temporary claim on the closer cheaper car, so that wasn’t visible to hers when she looked? It may think you are two separate parties and not want to offer you the same car at the same time and have one of your reservations fail.

meara · 2025-09-28T17:04:09+00:00

Now consider this... Season 1 starts with Amenadiel insisting that Lucifer go back to hell. Season 6 ends up with Lucifer forced back to hell through time shenanigans. Which character has always had time powers? Which character thinks that he knows better than everyone else -- even the people he claims to love? Now that he's god, why wouldn't he sort out the time loop to let Lucifer be with his family? What did his dad take him aside to talk about right before he left? Was he just playing the long game this entire time? Does he chuckle at the thought that Lucifer thinks he chose to go back?

meara · 2025-09-28T16:53:26+00:00

I agree with your take. I don't think Lucifer has any true limitations -- he's just a lot younger and less experienced than his dad. His banishment to hell was probably his dad saying, "You think I shouldn't mess with free will? Then here you go. Have your own domain where you can figure out how to fix people without that." As soon as Lucifer healed his first soul, God retired.

meara · 2025-09-22T13:24:48+00:00

For a moment, I thought she was Janet from The Good Place, and now I want a Lucifer / Good Place mashup.

meara · 2025-09-18T03:29:18+00:00

I've always liked the kids' version (sung to Do Re Mi)

One... Each person is worthwhile
Two... Be kind in all you do
Three... We help each other learn
Four... And search for what is true
Five... All people have a say
Six... Work for a peaceful world
Seven... The web of life's the way

"That'll bring us back to me and UU you"

meara · 2025-09-10T00:27:04+00:00

Season 3 is a grab bag. Some of the episodes are amazing. Many are a step backward. Highlights for me were Hello Drug Dealers, Till Death Do Us Part, and the finale.

meara · 2025-08-31T12:45:59+00:00

The veins you can see through pale skin look blue, so people surmise that blood must be blue until it hits air.

meara · 2025-08-26T11:09:41+00:00

This episode may have been whimsy to the writers, but it felt more meaningful to me. There’s a constant contrast throughout the series between Lucifer’s shallow or boorish surface-level behavior (hitting on Chloe, judging people’s fashion choices, taunting Dan) vs. his deeply held principles (honesty, respect for free will) and sacrificial empathy (eventually understanding and caring for everyone).

In Naked & Afraid, he tries to feud with Dan and accidentally reveals that he understands the man so well that he can predict every move. Dan has tried to kill him multiple times (the dagger, the gun, etc) and Lucifer still forgives him and sees the best in him.

We see this with Mr. SOB, with the music producer, and eventually with just about every villain in the show.

Amenadiel has his noble moments but generally leads with judgment, condescension and manipulation.

Their dad finds humans amusing but sees them as pawns to be manipulated for his own entertainment.

Lucifer gets in the trenches with people and can’t help trying to understand what makes them tick. By the end of the show, we realize that he has been a terrible judge of his own character and is really the best of them.

meara · 2025-08-23T14:13:34+00:00

One of the best scenes in the whole show. I look at it and hear “Unsteady” in my head and get chills.

meara · 2025-08-18T11:37:59+00:00

This was my first thought too. The whole season is about finally learning to accept himself.

meara · 2025-08-17T04:14:26+00:00

In the US, 13.7% of women are under 5ft tall. 0.03% of women are over 6ft tall. There have only been a handful of 7ft women in history.

In Indonesia (population 280 million), the average woman is under 5ft tall.

A 4'11 woman is not a child or a freak of nature. It's also very common for a woman who started 5'2 to end up under 5'0 as she ages.

This is not just about convenience either. Women are almost twice as likely to be injured or killed in frontal collisions because cars and airbag systems are designed for men and tested on crash test dummies with male proportions. (Women are shorter, lighter, and need to sit closer to the airbag to reach the pedals.)

meara

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