TGI... F? Yes, F.
Okay okay okay, the subject line is indeed a joke. I haven't really had any trouble telling apart the days of the week, at least not any moreso than usual.
It helps that I'm still working 8 hours a day at the usual time M-F. Monday night, I still have Master Chorale, albeit in a very different format, and Mr. 42 still teaches lessons in the evening. Tuesday, Mr. 42 still goes to work, Wednesday he still teaches, Thursday is still garbage day, and Thursday night, I still get together with church choir. Every week I still have music to work on for church services, and I even occasionally have ProChoir gatherings (yoga via Zoom) in the midst of all that. So while things aren't "normal," there's enough "normal" to keep me from feeling totally adrift, and I'll take that.
This week's news about not being able to sing safely together is still reverberating. I did a bit of grieving for it yesterday, firstly in listening to the Tallis Scholars' recording of Victoria's Requiem, which was balm, even if it stung a bit at first. And I shut down work a bit early and went downstairs to actually do a bit of singing. I worked on the Eric Whitacre virtual choir piece, which has some tricky intervals that aren't in my ear yet, so I'll keep working on that. And then I moved on to Mozart (Laudate Donimum from Vesperae solennes de confessore) and then some musical theatre favorites ("How Could I Ever Know" (Secret Garden), "No One Is Alone" (Into the Woods)). However, I quickly discovered that oh yeah, meaningful music can feel twice as meaningful in times of crisis, so I had to keep stopping to collect myself when I got to words that hurt too much to sing. So then I went back to Mozart (Alleluia from Exultate Jubliate) and thought "why the hell not" at the end, and successfully sang the first high C(6) in the context of an aria that I've sung in over a decade. So yeah, that was cool. Three voice lessons, people. That's all I was able to have with ET before all this went down, but I'm already seeing so much progress from continuing to apply the things we worked on in those lessons. I mean there's still SO much to work on (and to learn from ET!), and I wouldn't call the C6 reliable yet, but I was able to do it once and it didn't hurt. Clearly, that note and some others I thought out of reach are still in there. Time to reacquaint myself with 'em.
Zoom has been extra nice this week. Monday Master Chorale was fun, and we used the breakout room for something akin to sectionals. Adorable Assistant Conductor took the sopranos and altos, so I took advantage of the transition from mass Zoom to sectional to don my Glinda crown and grab my wand. So I got to work on Shawn Kirchner's "O What a Beatuiful City" whilst looking like the good witch of the north. AAC got a good laugh, at least. Wednesday, Mr. 42 and I joined a virtual 60th birthday party for our friend DL, which was wonderful and well-attended by folks across the country. Last night, following an entertaining post on RV's Facebook page, in which he shared a memory of a 7-11 employee who remarked that he only saw RV in either pyjama pants and slippers or a full suit and asked what he did for a living, I decided to go semi-formal for church choir. I pulled out my silver-sequin cocktail gown and fancy sunglasses and made my self an enormous cocktail to sip on throughout. I also shared the terrifying couture fundraiser mask my designer acquaintance made that looks like it's vomiting sequins, which made us all giggle. And I'm currently attending an online contemporary opera conference, which is pretty awesome so far. I am exceedingly interested in one of the panels that conflicts with chalk talk time, but I'm going to see if they'll let me hand off hosting to the chair and/or speaker so I can be there instead.
Right! Gonna go grab a snack and settle in for some composer talk.
Smooches to All!
Mun42
It helps that I'm still working 8 hours a day at the usual time M-F. Monday night, I still have Master Chorale, albeit in a very different format, and Mr. 42 still teaches lessons in the evening. Tuesday, Mr. 42 still goes to work, Wednesday he still teaches, Thursday is still garbage day, and Thursday night, I still get together with church choir. Every week I still have music to work on for church services, and I even occasionally have ProChoir gatherings (yoga via Zoom) in the midst of all that. So while things aren't "normal," there's enough "normal" to keep me from feeling totally adrift, and I'll take that.
This week's news about not being able to sing safely together is still reverberating. I did a bit of grieving for it yesterday, firstly in listening to the Tallis Scholars' recording of Victoria's Requiem, which was balm, even if it stung a bit at first. And I shut down work a bit early and went downstairs to actually do a bit of singing. I worked on the Eric Whitacre virtual choir piece, which has some tricky intervals that aren't in my ear yet, so I'll keep working on that. And then I moved on to Mozart (Laudate Donimum from Vesperae solennes de confessore) and then some musical theatre favorites ("How Could I Ever Know" (Secret Garden), "No One Is Alone" (Into the Woods)). However, I quickly discovered that oh yeah, meaningful music can feel twice as meaningful in times of crisis, so I had to keep stopping to collect myself when I got to words that hurt too much to sing. So then I went back to Mozart (Alleluia from Exultate Jubliate) and thought "why the hell not" at the end, and successfully sang the first high C(6) in the context of an aria that I've sung in over a decade. So yeah, that was cool. Three voice lessons, people. That's all I was able to have with ET before all this went down, but I'm already seeing so much progress from continuing to apply the things we worked on in those lessons. I mean there's still SO much to work on (and to learn from ET!), and I wouldn't call the C6 reliable yet, but I was able to do it once and it didn't hurt. Clearly, that note and some others I thought out of reach are still in there. Time to reacquaint myself with 'em.
Zoom has been extra nice this week. Monday Master Chorale was fun, and we used the breakout room for something akin to sectionals. Adorable Assistant Conductor took the sopranos and altos, so I took advantage of the transition from mass Zoom to sectional to don my Glinda crown and grab my wand. So I got to work on Shawn Kirchner's "O What a Beatuiful City" whilst looking like the good witch of the north. AAC got a good laugh, at least. Wednesday, Mr. 42 and I joined a virtual 60th birthday party for our friend DL, which was wonderful and well-attended by folks across the country. Last night, following an entertaining post on RV's Facebook page, in which he shared a memory of a 7-11 employee who remarked that he only saw RV in either pyjama pants and slippers or a full suit and asked what he did for a living, I decided to go semi-formal for church choir. I pulled out my silver-sequin cocktail gown and fancy sunglasses and made my self an enormous cocktail to sip on throughout. I also shared the terrifying couture fundraiser mask my designer acquaintance made that looks like it's vomiting sequins, which made us all giggle. And I'm currently attending an online contemporary opera conference, which is pretty awesome so far. I am exceedingly interested in one of the panels that conflicts with chalk talk time, but I'm going to see if they'll let me hand off hosting to the chair and/or speaker so I can be there instead.
Right! Gonna go grab a snack and settle in for some composer talk.
Smooches to All!
Mun42