Adding a bit of cachet to my evenings.
The season has started for my musical groups again, and I can already tell the difference in how I'm feeling. Still in a deep funk, but I'm starting to have SOME sense of give-a-damn about life in general.
I'm helping out with my mom's handbell choir at St. Dismas again. We had our first performance of the season this past Sunday, which went as well as could be expected when we lost two of our core players bowing out due to personal reasons. That had me worried for the group-we were down below two octaves and stuck playing arrangements specialized for short-handed bell choirs.
Fortune struck with a few phone calls, though. A few of the girls who've played with us before are now out of college, so they'll be joining up again. Good on several counts; not only will we have more hands to ring, they actually have a little bit of musical background, and it's always good to have someone younger than their fifties to help balance out the 'little old ladies' demographic.
Now, I just have to keep my patience with the newcomer who joined us last month with ZERO musical experience. I need to work with her in private sometime this week so we can mark her music with notes she plays, and counting out the beats of each measure. Still, every one of our players has had to begin at some point, and after four rehearsals I can already tell she'll pick it up by the end of the season.
More of a bonus to me, the Waukegan Concert Chorus is back in session. My favorite choral director, Maestro Sylvanus Alex Tyler, is at the helm, and somehow we've drawn in several new young men to flesh out the roster. I'm not the only young stud with a solid voice any more! I've had to tone down my ego already, but these guys are bringing a good attitude and a sense of levity. I can see the positive difference in the director bouncing back that attitude.
Our first concert is going to be a series of madrigals and Shakespeare-influenced work, more modern examples of madrigals. Some of the work skirts close to the avant garde, but falls on the side of tonality, if stretching its limits a tad. One of the pieces seems to take the key signature as more of a suggestion than any actual tonal framework. Folks familiar with names in jazz might be amused to hear how George Shearing put his smooth bop influence into madrigals, woo!
It's good to be playing and singing again in a more formal environment.
I'm helping out with my mom's handbell choir at St. Dismas again. We had our first performance of the season this past Sunday, which went as well as could be expected when we lost two of our core players bowing out due to personal reasons. That had me worried for the group-we were down below two octaves and stuck playing arrangements specialized for short-handed bell choirs.
Fortune struck with a few phone calls, though. A few of the girls who've played with us before are now out of college, so they'll be joining up again. Good on several counts; not only will we have more hands to ring, they actually have a little bit of musical background, and it's always good to have someone younger than their fifties to help balance out the 'little old ladies' demographic.
Now, I just have to keep my patience with the newcomer who joined us last month with ZERO musical experience. I need to work with her in private sometime this week so we can mark her music with notes she plays, and counting out the beats of each measure. Still, every one of our players has had to begin at some point, and after four rehearsals I can already tell she'll pick it up by the end of the season.
More of a bonus to me, the Waukegan Concert Chorus is back in session. My favorite choral director, Maestro Sylvanus Alex Tyler, is at the helm, and somehow we've drawn in several new young men to flesh out the roster. I'm not the only young stud with a solid voice any more! I've had to tone down my ego already, but these guys are bringing a good attitude and a sense of levity. I can see the positive difference in the director bouncing back that attitude.
Our first concert is going to be a series of madrigals and Shakespeare-influenced work, more modern examples of madrigals. Some of the work skirts close to the avant garde, but falls on the side of tonality, if stretching its limits a tad. One of the pieces seems to take the key signature as more of a suggestion than any actual tonal framework. Folks familiar with names in jazz might be amused to hear how George Shearing put his smooth bop influence into madrigals, woo!
It's good to be playing and singing again in a more formal environment.