Promising beginnings
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from rehearsal last night, but I certainly walked out feeling better about our performances this weekend. It helped that I know I wasn't the only one who reviewed their music this week, because the music was the most solid that it's been. It also helped that our guest conductor clearly knows this piece exceedingly, which was pretty much the first thing he said:
"I grew up in Belfast in Northern Ireland, and I was a chorister when I was a child. I remember one Christmas we were all excited because we were singing a special mass for Christmas: this mass by Puccini. I remember it especially well because it was the last thing I sang before my voice broke."
D'aaw. <3
I do love conductors who have choral experience, because it makes them extra-sensitive to what the voice can (and can't) do, and they usually let us breathe on occasion :D
I'm deeply glad I switched out my choir pencil for one with a with a good eraser, because all of the markings that JR gave us were from the original conductor who had to withdraw due to back injury. So we dutifully lengthened note values, changed articulations, changed moods, changed tempi (to downright humane speeds, thankfully), added/removed breaths, rejiggered phrasing, you name it, we changed it! He also rightly called out our pronunciation on the word for earth/land, "terra." While we were correctly rolling the double-r, as one does in Italinate pronunciation of Latin, we were singing an American "teh" on the first syllable instead of singing a more closed "tay" (sans dipthong of course). And damn it, he was right. So I'm going to have to go through the whole score and mark all the "terra"s because I'm so used to singing "teh" instead of "tay." We were so focused on keeping folks from accidentally pronouncing "in" like the English word instead of "een" that we totally missed "terra." Ah well. I retrained myself to sing Latin "o" as "aw," I can fix this. Heaven knows I sing enough Latin that I'll have the opportunity to reinforce it!
So yeah, it was a good rehearsal. Tonight is our first rehearsal in symphony hall, and I'm hopeful that at least some of the good work we did in our acoustically-friendly rehearsal room translates to singing in the cavernous, somewhat sound-sucking space. And if not, well, we have two orchestra rehearsals yet before the first performance, so there's still time to fix and get used to things.
Work today has not been hugely efficient, but I've crossed a few annoying things off the to-do list. There is still much to do, but I'm getting things done almost out of spite today. Whatever the motivation, I'm glad for the progress!
In other news, our sedan is in the shop with one of the symptoms that presaged a catrastrophic radiator fail and a thousands-plural-of-dollars repair bill, but we were much prompter about bringing it in this time and are hopeful to avoid another one of those. I'm hoping the fix will be flushing the cooling system to remove any lingering crud from the last radiator and replacing a hose or two, then sending us on our merry way. And maybe then the heat will work again? And while I'm wishing, I'd like a pony. Because if faced with another huge repair bill, it might be time to start thinking about another new-to-us car, preferably one that fits our needs (and our garage) a bit better than this one, which we bought from Mr. 42's grandma when she stopped driving. I'd rather not, of course. I have a goodly list of home improvement projects that I'd rather drain our savings with. But we do still need two cars at this point, so it's either pay the repair bill and hope the sedan hangs on for a while longer yet, or get something else.
Right. Off to check a few more things off the to-do list before skedaddling downtown via bus. A choral music society friend wants to chat after work. The last time this happened, I was asked to help organize a new recurring singing activity, so I am practicing graciously declining adding anything to my already daunting to-do list, just in case. :D
Right. Gotta finish a couple more things, then the aforementioned skedaddling.
Smooches to All!
Mun42
"I grew up in Belfast in Northern Ireland, and I was a chorister when I was a child. I remember one Christmas we were all excited because we were singing a special mass for Christmas: this mass by Puccini. I remember it especially well because it was the last thing I sang before my voice broke."
D'aaw. <3
I do love conductors who have choral experience, because it makes them extra-sensitive to what the voice can (and can't) do, and they usually let us breathe on occasion :D
I'm deeply glad I switched out my choir pencil for one with a with a good eraser, because all of the markings that JR gave us were from the original conductor who had to withdraw due to back injury. So we dutifully lengthened note values, changed articulations, changed moods, changed tempi (to downright humane speeds, thankfully), added/removed breaths, rejiggered phrasing, you name it, we changed it! He also rightly called out our pronunciation on the word for earth/land, "terra." While we were correctly rolling the double-r, as one does in Italinate pronunciation of Latin, we were singing an American "teh" on the first syllable instead of singing a more closed "tay" (sans dipthong of course). And damn it, he was right. So I'm going to have to go through the whole score and mark all the "terra"s because I'm so used to singing "teh" instead of "tay." We were so focused on keeping folks from accidentally pronouncing "in" like the English word instead of "een" that we totally missed "terra." Ah well. I retrained myself to sing Latin "o" as "aw," I can fix this. Heaven knows I sing enough Latin that I'll have the opportunity to reinforce it!
So yeah, it was a good rehearsal. Tonight is our first rehearsal in symphony hall, and I'm hopeful that at least some of the good work we did in our acoustically-friendly rehearsal room translates to singing in the cavernous, somewhat sound-sucking space. And if not, well, we have two orchestra rehearsals yet before the first performance, so there's still time to fix and get used to things.
Work today has not been hugely efficient, but I've crossed a few annoying things off the to-do list. There is still much to do, but I'm getting things done almost out of spite today. Whatever the motivation, I'm glad for the progress!
In other news, our sedan is in the shop with one of the symptoms that presaged a catrastrophic radiator fail and a thousands-plural-of-dollars repair bill, but we were much prompter about bringing it in this time and are hopeful to avoid another one of those. I'm hoping the fix will be flushing the cooling system to remove any lingering crud from the last radiator and replacing a hose or two, then sending us on our merry way. And maybe then the heat will work again? And while I'm wishing, I'd like a pony. Because if faced with another huge repair bill, it might be time to start thinking about another new-to-us car, preferably one that fits our needs (and our garage) a bit better than this one, which we bought from Mr. 42's grandma when she stopped driving. I'd rather not, of course. I have a goodly list of home improvement projects that I'd rather drain our savings with. But we do still need two cars at this point, so it's either pay the repair bill and hope the sedan hangs on for a while longer yet, or get something else.
Right. Off to check a few more things off the to-do list before skedaddling downtown via bus. A choral music society friend wants to chat after work. The last time this happened, I was asked to help organize a new recurring singing activity, so I am practicing graciously declining adding anything to my already daunting to-do list, just in case. :D
Right. Gotta finish a couple more things, then the aforementioned skedaddling.
Smooches to All!
Mun42