"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!

The Phantom of the Opera is there.. inside my dreams

Wherein Rose reflects on a strange dream and is amused by the musical her old high school is doing.

I've been dreaming a fair bit lately, maybe because I'm sick, maybe because I've had less work to think about, I don't know. Either way, there have been some strange dreams. Like last night, my dream included having a baby brother with a square head, taking some of the kindergarten kids to McDonalds, and trying to go to work only to have maintenance guys hot-wire my car (a conversion van my family had when I was in high school) so it would take me back home because I was still sick. I escaped from them and ran into the school (although I wasn't supposed to be there that day) where the head of the school was giving everyone big boxes of candy wrapped in Christmas paper even though it was March. And then, some of the other teachers started posting things on Facebook about how I wasn't supposed to be at work because I was sick. Bizarre. Although I don't put much faith in “dream interpretation” I often wonder what makes people put such random things together. I suppose some of this makes sense or relates to what I've been doing (or, rather, not doing – as in working) lately, but it's not like I was thinking about any of this before I went to bed. Who knows... guess I'll add this to the list of questions for The Big Guy someday.

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One can often find out the most interesting information on Facebook. Like the other day, I noticed that one of my sisters plans to see the SHS musical in a few weeks. They are doing The Phantom of the Opera. I laughed. Observations:

Miriam told me her drafting teacher is calling it “Phantom of the Oprah” … if things haven't changed in the drama club/thespian troupe since my time in high school this is probably a more accurate title.

That music isn't for the faint of heart. I sang the title duet my senior year as part of our thespian show cabaret. Although there are some funny memories attached with it, including the saga of my one and only high school detention, it was really pushing the limits of being safe. I worked for weeks to get the final high B flat (CORRECTION!!! it's a High E Flat... really not sure how I missed that). Finally, no more than a week before the show, I told the director and my ex-boyfriend that I thought I had it. I didn't want the rest of the cast to get excited in case I couldn't actually get the note and somehow thought that if Mr. W. and Erik were the only people actually in the choir room no one else would hear it. Anyone who has attempted to sing something that high as a high school kid knows it's basically impossible to sing it at anything other than full voice. I hit the note both then and in the show but listening to recordings, I can't help but wince. And that was only singing one song from the show... nothing close to singing the role. That music isn't high school music, not by a long shot.

I really hope the girls playing Christine and Carlotta (apparently switching back and forth on opposite nights... strange because the vocal requirements are extremely different **** correction**** there are two girls playing each, NOT two girls switching back and forth) are seniors. High school theater politics being what they are (or at least what they were back in my day) I hope they don't hurt themselves and make their parents regret “buying” the role for them. Who knows... maybe things have changed.

The “bigger is better” attitude with high school musicals doesn't always pay off. There are plenty of good musicals which are much more appropriate for that age group. I wish them well (honestly, I do, and really hope no one hurts themselves) but it's a shame they are being pushed to do the biggest thing possible. Better to do a smaller show brilliantly than to muddle through something more “impressive.”

My heart goes out to the student head of costumes. Although I can pray the “curse of the costume crew head” has been broken (which extended both before and after my time in that position), I kind of doubt it – unless she (or he, I suppose) is only interested in tech.

Two things I wonder... do the guys still use “Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan as a pre-show warmup? And.. will the costume crew head make a “Who's going commando sign” like I did a couple of times or have the boys actually learned not to leave underwear in the dressing room?

Can't wait to hear all about it from my sister, that's for sure!