le tchad et la cote d'ivoire
for some reason, my local npr station not only switches to bbc world news at night but switches to the french-language broadcast, so i drifted off to sleep listening to a discussion of some problem going on between chad and the ivory coast. maybe it wasn't a problem - it could have been a new peace accord for all i know. either way, i think listening to french news broadcasts may be the insomnia solution i've been searching for. not only do i not understand it, so it's white noise, it's in french, so it's incredibly soothing white noise. of course, they then cut to a fascinating piece on chernobyl in english, so i had to stay up listening to that, negating the soothing effects of the french.
i think my fellow st cecilians have hit a musical plateau. i realize that ability to read music and an good voice can only go so far. it seems to me that the most important thing in a choral singer is the ability to mind-meld with the conductor. if more of my fellow choristers could do that, we might not have to spend twenty minutes going over how to sing "incessantly, softly" in the dona nobis pacem and nearly bring our 91-year-old director to tears with our crappiness. i was this close to screaming out "Christ Almighty, read the damn words and interpret them!" i mean, this is whitman and the prophets in ENGLISH. We're putting more interpretation into Schiller's cheesy beer-hall poetry in a language most members can't read. what good was it for RVW to prove that the english language could be set to music beautifully if we're just going to butcher the whole thing? still, i can't wait to drown myself in the $67,000 orchestra next week.
i think my fellow st cecilians have hit a musical plateau. i realize that ability to read music and an good voice can only go so far. it seems to me that the most important thing in a choral singer is the ability to mind-meld with the conductor. if more of my fellow choristers could do that, we might not have to spend twenty minutes going over how to sing "incessantly, softly" in the dona nobis pacem and nearly bring our 91-year-old director to tears with our crappiness. i was this close to screaming out "Christ Almighty, read the damn words and interpret them!" i mean, this is whitman and the prophets in ENGLISH. We're putting more interpretation into Schiller's cheesy beer-hall poetry in a language most members can't read. what good was it for RVW to prove that the english language could be set to music beautifully if we're just going to butcher the whole thing? still, i can't wait to drown myself in the $67,000 orchestra next week.