#where 5th harmony was like 17 years old being like “give it to me”

[didhewinkback]

the rebrand these girls went through is so wild. like began with the sweet wholesome sleepover girlies and it didnt work so like three months later theyre singing about they can handle getting absolutely railed bc theyre worth it

[ouyang-zizhen]

Headcanon, part 2

So, I’ve seen a few posts in which ZiZhen has plenty of siblings due to his dad being old and all, and I raise you with: ZiZhen has many moms.

A total of 6, to be precise, would have been 7 if his own mother had survive. So here’s the thing:

1 - ZiZhen is an only child.

2 - His father realized, after marrying his third wife, that the problem of conception does not lie with the women he beds but with his own genetic. He’s still hoping it might happen with the right woman though. 

3 - ZiZhen is pretty much a miracle baby from an infertile (but not sterile) father.

4 - His mother was the first wife. After she died, the second concubine got that title. The third concubine arrived a year after the first wife’s death. 

5 - Ouyang Dad still tried to have more kids, marrying 3 more women, yet never earning any results (3 more instead of 2, because 4 is a bad omen). 

6 - He would have kept only those, but his fourth wife got badly sick and she was expected to die within the year. Not wanting to keep only 4 women in his household (again, bad omen), he took another wife during that time. The fourth wife survived, and they are now 6 in total. 

7 - All the wives, fully aware they’ll never have a child of their own unless Ouyang Dad adopts (which is unlikely), dotes on ZiZhen like he is their own son. 

8 - The second concubine, now first wife, was raised in the Meishan Yu sect, although not part of the main Yu clan. Her family has been part of the sect for three generations. She is the third daughter.

9 - When the Second Concubine married into the Baling sect, ZiZhen’s mom was still childless. She got pregnant with ZiZhen a year or so after the arrival of the Second Concubine, who also remained childless.

10 - ZiZhen knows many stories of his mother through the bedtime tales of the Second Concubine.

11 - The third concubine is from YunMeng. She was a dancer, born from a rogue cultivator, who taught her to train her golden core, and a dancer, who taught her the skills she made a livelihood of after her parents death when she was 16. She was 19 when she joined the OuYang household. 

12 - She and the Second Concubine slowly fell for each other and became lovers. 

13 - ZiZhen once caught them kissing. They both told him beautiful stories of soulmates and how easily those bonds can be broken by the cruelty of the world. ZiZhen listened with rapture and promised never to tell a soul about what he saw, for his aunties were true soulmates. (Yes, they both manipulated ZiZhen into not telling his father of what he saw).

14 - That moment sparked ZiZhen’s interest in love stories and slowly shaped him into the romantic he is. 

15 - He later understood what Second and Third concubine truly meant by their story. It fueled his passion for WangXian more than anything. 

16 - The Fourth Concubine was from the Chang clan. She got sick after hearing of their horrible death at the hands of Xue Yang, and how the latter escaped justice for it. Her cultivation has always been weaker than most, which is why she was thought to die from her pain, but, with the help of Second and Third Concubines, she got through. Her body still does not allow her to travel very far, but she enjoys taking long walks in the gardens of the previous First Wife, lovingly tended to by she and the other concubines. 

17 - During her recovery, she began to write stories to keep herself entertained.

18 - ZiZhen is her most fervent fan, always poking in her rooms to have a sneak peek of her next story. 

19 - Because of the involvement of the Jin Clan in the absence of justice for the Chang, she is the most suspicious of the budding relationship between ZiZhen and Jin Ling. While not outright disagreeing, she always keeps her eyes open to any clues that might tell Jin Ling is not right for ZiZhen.

20 - The Fifth Concubine is the 5th daughter of a rich Baling family. She was raised in the sect, developing a strong core, often helping Young Master ZiZhen, age 14 by now, to train. At age 25, still unmarried, the Fifth Concubine was noticed for the first time by OuYang Dad, on a day she actually bothered to dress nicely. She went back to what I would call an “Ancient Chinese Butch Look” shortly after the wedding. 

21 - Fifth Concubine then proceeded to thoroughly seduce Second, Third and Fourth Concubine into a relationship all together. Their laughter can often be heard in the courtyard linking each of their pavillion together. 

22 - Sixth Concubine was a rogue cultivator herself. Fifth Concubine saw her at the market one day. They talked and fell in love. Fifth Concubine, with the help of Second, Third and Fourth, who also met Sixth and were charmed, managed to convince her husband to take Sixth in with them. “Four is a bad omen husband, you need another one of us!”

23 - When Fourth fell sick, that’s when OuYang Dad hurriedly tried to find Seventh Concubine. She was a merchant’s daughter, selling her father’s ware at the market. Ouyang Dad tried to haggle something much cheaper than it was worth. She stood her ground. He asked to marry her. 

24 - She refused at first. “I am not a cultivator, what am I bringing to you?” OuYang Dad, at this point trying one last time before calling it quit, decided that maybe it would work, a baby with a non-cultivator. 

25 - It did not work. But Seventh is pretty happy with her lot. She’s well taken care of, especially by the other concubine who all warmly welcomed her, and they all promised to take care of her the same, even once she’s old and grey. 

26 - So ZiZhen is really well loved by his father’s remaining 6 wives. That’s where he gets his “Respect Women” juice from. 

27 - The only reason why he’s been feeling down lately with his father’s expectations and mistreatment is because said father also cut the time ZiZhen is allowed to spend with them, he has “Sect Related Duties” now, he doesn’t have the time to play around anymore. 

28 - The Wives eventually called bullshit. ZiZhen has been feeling better ever since. 

29 - OuYang Dad is painfully oblivious to his Wives relationship together. He is just happy none of them are giving him any headaches. 

30 - One day, Jiggy went to Ouyang Dad and congratulated him on the harmony of his household. Jiggy, of course, thought he would be subtly blackmailing OuYang Dad with the scandal of his wives together (where did he learnt that? Fuck if I know!), but Oblivious OuYang just smiled and thanked him, which kinda messed up Jiggy’s plan. Not that he needed to blackmail Sect Leader OuYang, but it’s always useful to do so. Anyway, Jiggy left the conversation thinking Ouyang Dad thought everyone knew already and he was happy with it. 

31 - Eventually, Ouyang Dad DID learn the truth, well into ZiZhen’s 20′s. He got mad for about 5 minutes before calming down. “At least they can’t get pregnant from this, it won’t bring me any shame.”

32 - He lets them be, especially since they let him be. He enjoys his quiet evenings away from whatever his wives are doing. 

33 - Which is ironic considering he is friends with one of the loudest mouths in the Cultivation world, Sect Leader Yao. 

34 - All the wives avoid him like the plague whenever he visits Baling. 

35 - All the wives having a golden core, they go to Night Hunts together from time to time. Seventh sometimes tags along despite not having a golden core, while Fourth tends to stay at home after her sickness. 

36 - They are all very careful though, since they know ZiZhen’s mother died during a Night Hunt and they all promised ZiZhen they would not be careless.

37 - ZiZhen started calling the Concubines “Autie”, but one day, he accidentally called Fourth “Mom”, and all the others got jealous and wanted to be called “Mom” too, so he now calls them First mom, Second mom, Third mom, etc.

38 - He uses a different, more childish word when talking about his deceased birth mother. 

Aaaaaand that’s it for tonight folks! I know some of what I’ve written gets change a little now that I have this headcanon in mind, but I’ll keep this for whatever’s coming next in the OG world (well, canon-divergence world now XD). See you guys soon with some new OS!

[metbackstagestories-blog]

Interview: Courtney Carey, Met Opera Guild Teaching Artist

In honor of Black History Month, we sat down for a chat with one of our talented Teaching Artists, Mr. Courtney Carey. Courtney is a passionate advocate of arts education, not to mention a fantastic performer in his own right. Click below to read more about how he got his start in music, what inspires him, and the advice he would give to someone looking to work in arts education.

Met Opera Guild: Where did you get your start in music? Was it a part of your life early on?

Courtney Carey:  My earliest musical memories are from the Orff music trailer at Raleigh-Bartlett Meadows Elementary School in Memphis, TN. Those were the days (the early 80s) when music was still very much a part of the general curriculum. We would go out to the back of the school, and go inside the trailer and play all kinds of instruments. What a time! I didn't become serious about music, however, until I entered junior high school and joined the concert band. I'll never forget the first day of class. Our band teacher, Janet Harris, opened the instrument room and said "Okay, everyone go inside and choose the instrument you want to play. It will be your best friend for the next three years." I chose the bassoon because it was the most unique instrument of the lot. We had a wonderful time playing pep rallies and concerts; we even went on a band trip to Houston, TX to play a festival. The highlight of those years was being offered the opportunity to train with the principal bassoonist of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra -- I was only 14 years old!

MOG: Who are your influences (any genre)?

CC: My musical influences are all over the map, but they certainly give a bit of insight into my musical taste. Here they are, and in this order:

Luther Vandross (the sheer beauty of his voice still captivates me to this day. I sang one of his songs in the final round of the very first competition I ever entered -- and won!)

Leontyne Price 

Grace Bumbry

Franco Corelli

Sherrill Milnes

Whitney Houston

I am a very high octane performer, both as a conductor and singer, and have certainly modeled my performing after these great artists.

MOG: What aspects of arts education do you find most important? Why?

CC: I feel that music literacy is most important, and an area on which I focus in all of my residencies. I work very hard to make sure that all of my students leave my music classes with some score reading proficiency. When I first started as a teaching artist in NYC,  those core concepts -- note values, note names and shapes, dynamics etc. -- were not state-mandated concepts to be taught as a part of the general music curriculum. During my third year of teaching, vast changes were made in New York State and I was happy that we were already teaching these important literacy skills in our work through the Met Opera Guild, so we had very few adjustments in teaching stratagem to make.

MOG: Do you have a favorite Teaching Artist moment? 

CC: Yes. The year was 2011, and I had been working on a special two-year residency at a public school in the Bronx. Because it was a two-year residency I was able to move up with my students; I had them both 4th and 5th grades. In their second year we performed excerpts from Mozart's The Magic Flute. We had a soprano from the Met, Janinah Burnett, come in to sing Pamina's aria, and two students from the Manhattan School of Music, Rashard Deleston and Cassandra Douglas, to sing Papageno and Papagena respectively. My fifth graders sang in three part harmony, and the Drei Knaben scene in GERMAN, and also an adaptation of Papageno's opening aria. The show was absolutely spectacular. It was one time where everything worked, and worked brilliantly.  

MOG: What advice would you give those looking to get involved in an arts or arts education career?

CC: Make sure that it is what you want to do! We live in a very expensive society, where cost of living is rising daily, and salaries aren't rising to meet those soaring costs. I see so many young people graduating from schools of music with hopes of jumping into a serious performing career. Reality settles in quickly, and many turn to arts education as a "fall back". It's great to have a Plan B, but make sure that the Plan B is a plan you would love effecting if it comes down to it. These kids come to school in most instances with very high expectations. Your teaching, in many ways, is like entertainment/performing. They know when your heart isn't in it. But when you're in there pulling for them, they know it, and they rise up and put their all in. That's a great thing to experience. 

MOG: What is your favorite opera? 

CC:  My favorite opera -- yikes, that's a hard one! I absolutely love the music of Gaetano Donizetti. I have sung his music perhaps more than any other composer. But, I suppose as a complete opera, Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani ranks as one of my all time favorites. There's something about the music that never bores me, and I can listen to the piece in its entirety without pause. One day, I hope to sing the opera -- I already know the two main arias (hint, hint). 

In the 2016-17 school year, Courtney is working with Hedgepeth/Williams School for the Arts in Trenton, NJ through the Met Opera Guild’s “Teaching Through Opera” program.