Backblog from January 2012
I did another thing that scared me tonight: I auditioned for the Bart's Chamber Choir. I didn't do too well - my voice is not as smooth as it once was and it takes a lot of continuous practice to get good, and it's been years since I sang regularly, but anyway, I'll just have to wait and see if I got in or not.
The thing was, the fear....
I felt a little, a momentary twinge, but I pushed it away and it went away and althoguh I was slightly nevous, I wasn't a mess.
When I first did auditions for GS, I was a complete mess.
By the end of my 8-year stint, it was still scary, but not blood curdling.
When I was sixish, I refused to join a swimming team because I was afraid of compettion. I wasn't a bad swimmer either and could possibly have been a lot better, but chieckened out.
Up until I was 13 or 14, I was terrified of making phone calls - the whole what do you say to the person on the other end had me in complete knotts.
My first job, my first trip in an air plane, my first trip OS... all terrified me. I was litterally shaking in my shoes.
I used to let fear stop me from doing things, and avoided all situations and events that could cause it like the plague. Now I actively hunt it - when I feel it, it tells me there's a problem to solve and I need to investigate it. I still have some hot potatoes' in my psyche that I haven't managed to tame into submission yet - large social gatherings is one of them, but I have it on my radar to try to fix. Finding a partner is another, but again, I'm working on it.
I used to flee, now I fight. Is this intelligence or the dulling of sensations with age? Like tastebuds, you can't stand the curry in your youth that is the favourite dish of your older years.
Whatever it is, I like it!
Showing posts with label Choir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Choir. Show all posts
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Carmen Aber-Style
Interesting...
My first rehearsal with the Aber Choral Society was a study in contrasts. Granted this is only the second choir I've sung with since I became an adult but it's strange how quickly you become accustomed to a certain way of doing things.
Aber's choir has no-one younger than me, whereas at least half the Plym choir were Uni students. This changes the sound considerably, believe me. There was a lot more warbling than I was used to! Mind you, I didn't hear any really bung notes either, so that was a most definite plus. But I missed sharing subtle eye-rolls with people my own age at some of the endearing but daft statements some older of the constituents make. I had to really suppress a fit of the giggles at one stage and I would have loved to have shared a smile with someone.
And the way the sections were placed was different - we were spread out more like an orchestra, with Soprano's, Tenors, Bases and Alto's fanned around the conductor in that order rather than having the Sop's & Alto's at the front with the Tenors & Bases sitting behind like in Plym. I miss having the deeper sound behind me! I find I'm best at keeping myself in tune when I can hear the harmonies and counter-melodies. Something to keep me on my toes most definitely.
We also did no vocal warm-ups this evening, which I dearly missed not having sung for six months, but in place of the quiet pianist of yore who I always had to struggle to hear, tonight we had this wonderfully bombastic lady who thumped out the tune extremely proficiently and managed to be louder than the full-voiced choir. Generous applause was given to her from all at the end and deservedly so.
We are learning the concert arrangement of Carmen for performance in December. In English, which is a tad disappointing, as I'd like to learn the French, but still, all the tunes are very familiar. Actually, the one real problem with singing stuff you know well, is NOT singing the tune! I had to keep pulling myself back onto the Alto line as I found myself wandering into the Soprano's territory. Someone's also played a bit fast and lose with the lyrics which are a little ... odd. I really don't believe Bizet would approve of the line 'Buy one and Get one Free' appearing in his work. But there you go. It will certainly amuse the audience, if they can work out what we're singing. :P
Anyway, the music is still the same, and that is all that really matters. I shall enjoy my 12 week stint in this choir and cherish every moment that I get to be part of such an enjoyable activity. I am grinning now and shall be for some time to come.
I really am blessed, I know that, to have the ability to sing. It's so difficult to explain to someone who has not known it, but be it in an orchestra or a choir, participating in the massed effect of music lifts you up out of yourself. You become greater than the sum of your parts and it is a really wonderful feeling.
Wish I could share it with you. Love & Music - K.
My first rehearsal with the Aber Choral Society was a study in contrasts. Granted this is only the second choir I've sung with since I became an adult but it's strange how quickly you become accustomed to a certain way of doing things.
Aber's choir has no-one younger than me, whereas at least half the Plym choir were Uni students. This changes the sound considerably, believe me. There was a lot more warbling than I was used to! Mind you, I didn't hear any really bung notes either, so that was a most definite plus. But I missed sharing subtle eye-rolls with people my own age at some of the endearing but daft statements some older of the constituents make. I had to really suppress a fit of the giggles at one stage and I would have loved to have shared a smile with someone.
And the way the sections were placed was different - we were spread out more like an orchestra, with Soprano's, Tenors, Bases and Alto's fanned around the conductor in that order rather than having the Sop's & Alto's at the front with the Tenors & Bases sitting behind like in Plym. I miss having the deeper sound behind me! I find I'm best at keeping myself in tune when I can hear the harmonies and counter-melodies. Something to keep me on my toes most definitely.
We also did no vocal warm-ups this evening, which I dearly missed not having sung for six months, but in place of the quiet pianist of yore who I always had to struggle to hear, tonight we had this wonderfully bombastic lady who thumped out the tune extremely proficiently and managed to be louder than the full-voiced choir. Generous applause was given to her from all at the end and deservedly so.
We are learning the concert arrangement of Carmen for performance in December. In English, which is a tad disappointing, as I'd like to learn the French, but still, all the tunes are very familiar. Actually, the one real problem with singing stuff you know well, is NOT singing the tune! I had to keep pulling myself back onto the Alto line as I found myself wandering into the Soprano's territory. Someone's also played a bit fast and lose with the lyrics which are a little ... odd. I really don't believe Bizet would approve of the line 'Buy one and Get one Free' appearing in his work. But there you go. It will certainly amuse the audience, if they can work out what we're singing. :P
Anyway, the music is still the same, and that is all that really matters. I shall enjoy my 12 week stint in this choir and cherish every moment that I get to be part of such an enjoyable activity. I am grinning now and shall be for some time to come.
I really am blessed, I know that, to have the ability to sing. It's so difficult to explain to someone who has not known it, but be it in an orchestra or a choir, participating in the massed effect of music lifts you up out of yourself. You become greater than the sum of your parts and it is a really wonderful feeling.
Wish I could share it with you. Love & Music - K.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Backblog: Singing All Day Long...
On the evening of the 13th of March 2010 I wrote:
Amazing day! We (Plymouth Choral Society) just had a vocal workshop. This means learn the song in the morning, perform it in the afternoon. I just got back and my throat is ... croaky. But what a day! We were singing in St Andrew's Minster, which has an awesome acoustic, and had a wonderful mezzo soloist. She sang among other things, Adele's laughing song from Die Fladermaus (Johann Strauss II) and Mimi's introduction from La Boheme (Puccini). Wonderful.
The choir sang some equally great stuff. From Opera we sang Verdi's Anvil Chorus and his Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, The Villages Chorus by Rossini, Handle's Chorus of the Enchanded Islanders, Bizet's Habanera (Carmen) and Dido's Lament and Chorus by Percell. This was intermixed with some sacred music; from Brahms, Ach, arme welt, From Mozart, Ave Verum Corpus, from Anerio 'Christus Factus est', from Palestrina 'Sicut Cervus', From Vitoria, 'O quam gloriosum', from Stravinsky 'Ave Maria' and a piece by Bruckner that I forgo to write down. None of which elicit any immediate triggers for most of you I know, but I assure you, if you heard them, you'd know them - well, most of them anyway.
It really was a divine day. I haven't felt as Euphoric as that since the last time I performed in a Tea Tree Gully Youth Orchestra concert. Makes me wish I had had the dedication to keep up with my Violin practice. Well, there is always choir here to look forward to, and it will start up again shortly, so expect more singing related posts soon!!
Amazing day! We (Plymouth Choral Society) just had a vocal workshop. This means learn the song in the morning, perform it in the afternoon. I just got back and my throat is ... croaky. But what a day! We were singing in St Andrew's Minster, which has an awesome acoustic, and had a wonderful mezzo soloist. She sang among other things, Adele's laughing song from Die Fladermaus (Johann Strauss II) and Mimi's introduction from La Boheme (Puccini). Wonderful.
The choir sang some equally great stuff. From Opera we sang Verdi's Anvil Chorus and his Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, The Villages Chorus by Rossini, Handle's Chorus of the Enchanded Islanders, Bizet's Habanera (Carmen) and Dido's Lament and Chorus by Percell. This was intermixed with some sacred music; from Brahms, Ach, arme welt, From Mozart, Ave Verum Corpus, from Anerio 'Christus Factus est', from Palestrina 'Sicut Cervus', From Vitoria, 'O quam gloriosum', from Stravinsky 'Ave Maria' and a piece by Bruckner that I forgo to write down. None of which elicit any immediate triggers for most of you I know, but I assure you, if you heard them, you'd know them - well, most of them anyway.
It really was a divine day. I haven't felt as Euphoric as that since the last time I performed in a Tea Tree Gully Youth Orchestra concert. Makes me wish I had had the dedication to keep up with my Violin practice. Well, there is always choir here to look forward to, and it will start up again shortly, so expect more singing related posts soon!!
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Sublime...
I've just got back from Choir practice and I'm floating on air...
We are currently rehearsing Shumann's Requiem Op 148, along with two Mendelssohn pieces, Song of the Lark and Hear My Prayer. The song is a perky little piece sung almost in rounds, and makes you happy just bopping along to it. The prayer is something most of the older generation in the choir recognise as a tune that their primary school teachers tortured them with - anyone know 'Oh for the wings of a dove'? - that's the prayer.
The Requiem though... I should really call this post sublime mess as that's what it sounds like most of the time. I bought a recording of it by the Berliner Philharmoniker, with Bernhard Klee and the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra so that I'd have something to practice to, and it really is sublime. The comparison with our choir is rather invidious to be sure, but every so often, as with the last piece we sang tonight - the Requiem from the Requiem - we manage to achieve something really magical.
I remember when I was in the TTG youth orchestra, playing along and getting so lost in the experience, I was no longer an individual, but an extension of this greater being that was the music itself. It's really hard to explain, but getting to that place in a creative endeavor where you are no longer one, but many - the whole being greater than the sum of its parts - is truly euphoric. And at the concert last year (which I promise to tell you about shortly dear friends!), and this evening, I touched again that place where person-hood disappears and only music remains. It was wonderful.
Peace to all & to all a good night!
We are currently rehearsing Shumann's Requiem Op 148, along with two Mendelssohn pieces, Song of the Lark and Hear My Prayer. The song is a perky little piece sung almost in rounds, and makes you happy just bopping along to it. The prayer is something most of the older generation in the choir recognise as a tune that their primary school teachers tortured them with - anyone know 'Oh for the wings of a dove'? - that's the prayer.
The Requiem though... I should really call this post sublime mess as that's what it sounds like most of the time. I bought a recording of it by the Berliner Philharmoniker, with Bernhard Klee and the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra so that I'd have something to practice to, and it really is sublime. The comparison with our choir is rather invidious to be sure, but every so often, as with the last piece we sang tonight - the Requiem from the Requiem - we manage to achieve something really magical.
I remember when I was in the TTG youth orchestra, playing along and getting so lost in the experience, I was no longer an individual, but an extension of this greater being that was the music itself. It's really hard to explain, but getting to that place in a creative endeavor where you are no longer one, but many - the whole being greater than the sum of its parts - is truly euphoric. And at the concert last year (which I promise to tell you about shortly dear friends!), and this evening, I touched again that place where person-hood disappears and only music remains. It was wonderful.
Peace to all & to all a good night!
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Thing are looking up again...
They always do come around. It's just hard to remember that in the middle!
Today was a good day.
When I left home, the sky was actually starting to lighten. The days are getting longer and soon I will see the sun come up. I am hanging out for that day!
I also got some good news. My base pass finally came through, which will allow me to roam around the place unescorted. It will also allow me to work in similar situations so might actually improve my job prospects.
And this evening, choir practice resumed. Who can be miserable in the middle of such amazing sound? We're doing Schumman's Requiem 148, which I had / have never heard before. From what we've sung so far, it has some really tricky bits and some really sublime parts to it. I'm going to really enjoy singing it.
So, yeah. A good day. Here's hoping that more like that come around soon.
Today was a good day.
When I left home, the sky was actually starting to lighten. The days are getting longer and soon I will see the sun come up. I am hanging out for that day!
I also got some good news. My base pass finally came through, which will allow me to roam around the place unescorted. It will also allow me to work in similar situations so might actually improve my job prospects.
And this evening, choir practice resumed. Who can be miserable in the middle of such amazing sound? We're doing Schumman's Requiem 148, which I had / have never heard before. From what we've sung so far, it has some really tricky bits and some really sublime parts to it. I'm going to really enjoy singing it.
So, yeah. A good day. Here's hoping that more like that come around soon.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
La-la-la, La-la-la, La-choak-cough-gargle-la!
I just did one of those things I've been saying I'd do for...well, ever! I just joined a choir!! The University of Plymouth Choral Society to be exact.
Wohooo...ooooh...oh shit. I haven't sung regularly for seven years, I haven't sight-read for a lot longer than that and I've never sung in a community choir before. What have I let myself in for?
It was one of those things that I had to not think about to do. I've had 'join a choir' on my To Do list for years now, but whenever I've looked into it, the location was too far away, or the people were too uppity, or the cost was too prohibitive, or you had to audition (horror of horrors!), or it clashed with something else I was doing.
Well, this one is 6 minutes walk from my place, is only 35 quid, the people are really friendly, it's open to everyone and what else am I doing with my time at the moment???
So I said to myself, said I: Just Do It. So I did. And shat myself for the entire 6 minute walk to the ex-church they rehearse in. And shat myself again when I got handed wads of paper a centimeter thick full of black dots that are supposedly called notes. And then shat myself again when I looked at the title of the first wad of paper...
THE, and I do mean the capitals, THE Messiah!!!!
Crap...
Cool...
Shit...
Wow...
Holy ... yeah, well you get the idea.
It's a damn good thing that my mother has played Master Handle's Masterpiece to us every Christmas that I can remember - the music is part of my soul I swear - as sight reading something that complex would have been a nightmare otherwise. And I did ok I think - I was very rusty, and not at all sure I was in key and on note (I couldn't hear myself!), and I had a bit of trouble with a twisted tongue at several points. But it went OK. And Boy was it FUN!
And then there was a second piece. This was a tad more tricky. You see, it was Magnificat, by Tommasso Albioni. In Latin if you please. ... Oi Vay. I got lost there I can tell you. I couldn't read both the notes and the words at the same time so ended up humming 'cause there was no way I could pronounce the words let alone sing them. Something to learn!
Yipee, yay, wee-he-he!!
SO GLAD. So cool. So, are you going to come to see me at the concert? 12th of Dec I think. So shit me twelve ways from Sunday, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this!
Wohooo...ooooh...oh shit. I haven't sung regularly for seven years, I haven't sight-read for a lot longer than that and I've never sung in a community choir before. What have I let myself in for?
It was one of those things that I had to not think about to do. I've had 'join a choir' on my To Do list for years now, but whenever I've looked into it, the location was too far away, or the people were too uppity, or the cost was too prohibitive, or you had to audition (horror of horrors!), or it clashed with something else I was doing.
Well, this one is 6 minutes walk from my place, is only 35 quid, the people are really friendly, it's open to everyone and what else am I doing with my time at the moment???
So I said to myself, said I: Just Do It. So I did. And shat myself for the entire 6 minute walk to the ex-church they rehearse in. And shat myself again when I got handed wads of paper a centimeter thick full of black dots that are supposedly called notes. And then shat myself again when I looked at the title of the first wad of paper...
THE, and I do mean the capitals, THE Messiah!!!!
Crap...
Cool...
Shit...
Wow...
Holy ... yeah, well you get the idea.
It's a damn good thing that my mother has played Master Handle's Masterpiece to us every Christmas that I can remember - the music is part of my soul I swear - as sight reading something that complex would have been a nightmare otherwise. And I did ok I think - I was very rusty, and not at all sure I was in key and on note (I couldn't hear myself!), and I had a bit of trouble with a twisted tongue at several points. But it went OK. And Boy was it FUN!
And then there was a second piece. This was a tad more tricky. You see, it was Magnificat, by Tommasso Albioni. In Latin if you please. ... Oi Vay. I got lost there I can tell you. I couldn't read both the notes and the words at the same time so ended up humming 'cause there was no way I could pronounce the words let alone sing them. Something to learn!
Yipee, yay, wee-he-he!!
SO GLAD. So cool. So, are you going to come to see me at the concert? 12th of Dec I think. So shit me twelve ways from Sunday, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this!
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