Saturday, December 17, 2011

"Behold, I tell you [some] myster[ies]"

Thoughts from last night's performance of (about two-thirds of) Handel's Messiah in no particular order...

1. Singing "Thou Shalt Break Them" with a "clothespin on your nose" is HIGHLY inadvisable. It may result in much of the choir and orchestra turning around to attempt not to laugh and the audience to stare in bewilderment. Also, it is painful. When it comes to extreme nasality: Just say no!

2. The group has grown. It was so enormous (100 was the program count) that there were not enough chairs and a handful of the basses ended up sitting in the pastor's lounge behind the organ and slipping in to stand next to us sopranos for the choruses. I've missed singing with a good group of people but having some great basses next me was an extra treat. Especially since...

3. Thanks to some rearranging after my solo, for the last chorus and the second time we sang the Hallelujah Chorus, I was right next to Erik who was one of my best friends in high school... with our former choir director on his other side. Talk about a blast from the past. It was like being in AC Choir all over again. The only thing we needed was our friend LaKedria singing "For Unto Us A Child Is Born" with us :-D

4. (Actually from rehearsal on Monday) A fire engine drove by. And, yes, this time it really was a fire engine ;-) "Glory to God"

5. There are reasons that "The Trumpet Shall Sound" is typically played on a piccolo trumpet. While I am sure there are people who could play it fantastically on a regular B-flat, the two trumpet players we had.... could not. To put it nicely. It was a hot mess. I kind of felt bad for the soloist (my high school choir director) because it seemed to be throwing him off.

6. There were some really fantastic high school kids singing solos. In particular, "The People That Walked In Darkness" -- honestly, the kid's breath support was unreal. One almost had to wonder if he was circular breathing.

7. I've learned my lesson: always bring water out with you if you're not sure about an intermission. By the beginning of Part 2, I was getting drier than dust and it didn't help my solo ("If God Be For Us"). I managed to get through it and it could have been much worse, but it also could have been much better. Even so...

8. Here's a really shocking tidbit: If someone has an summa cum laude degree in voice performance, there is a good chance that they can sing decently. Which my former choir director might have known ahead of time had he ever come to either of my recitals in Ohio (high school senior recital or the one I gave this summer -- both of which he claimed he was coming to) and heard me sing (or, I don't know ... cast me in a musical in high school) before this. The hug and shocked approval that I got from him was amusing. I often say that all of my music teachers have gotten me to where I am today. Most of them, thanks to their support and encouragement (my hs voice teacher, all the SHU profs -- huge shout out to MH who is most directly responsible for my still pursuing music) but this man because he pushed me to succeed simply to prove him wrong. That I AM a musician and DO deserve more than just two chorus numbers in a musical my senior year of high school. [rant over :) ]

All in all it was a good evening.. so nice to be singing real rep again and with a good chorus!

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