Musical adventures
So I seem to have volunteered to help write a musical. A 30-minute Zoom musical for kids ages 12~18 for a church theatre camp. I pitched an idea, came up with a concept and characters, and started writing the first scene up to the first song. This week, I'll write the first song (words only!) and integrate comments. No idea what will come of this, except, y'know, a musical. But there are a lot of really talented and experienced people working on it, and I'm excited for the opportunity. I haven't seriously tried to write a play since college, and this is less of a literary excercise than a performative one. Relieved I have so much dialogue writing under my belt from fic writing. We'll see how this goes! And if it's too long, editing down nearly always results in tidier work. Padding out almost never does.
Last week was a bit of a blur, but I did manage to sit a required training or two, we had a Heavenly Choir rehearsal on Tuesday and on Thursday, almost the entire choir (20 singers, including RV!) recorded this brilliant anthem (whose Psalm lines spell out "QUARANTINE" in acrostic), which was written to be performed on Zoom, though it can also be performed in canon. Friday was my Pop's birthday, so I hosted a Zoom party for him, which was a lot of fun, especially since it wasn't just the immediate family. We got BIL and neice, Uncle T and Aunt J, Cousin S and her husband and 3 kids, and Cousin K and his daughter. Dad opened presents on the call (my extremely juvenile gift went over well, methinks), and we attempted to sing Happy Birthday, which Zoom didn't know what to do with, but I think he appreciated the sentiment. We kept the call from being too long by doing it before his birthday steak dinner, but it was still lovely to see everyone and wish Pop an excellent Milestone Birthday! I also had a lot of fun with my hosting privileges and kept changing everyone's names to nonsensical and strange things. Heh heh heh.
It was a rather busy weekend with not too much in the way of getting caught up on sleep, but at least I made a bit of headway on my (much less dire than in my previous life) sleep deficit. I was unable to sleep in on Saturday, since we had a 9am church service recording session for which SV and I chanted the appointed psalm in real time. After that, I walked the dogs and worked on the musical concept/characters. When Mr. 42 got home from work, we had dinner and started on the fifth and final season of Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which is pretty awesome so far (we are currently 9 episodes in).
Sunday, I was up slightly less early for the service broadcast, which I watched/listened to/commented on whilst doing laundry. And I gotta say, we collectively made really good, meaningful, and moving church this week. Fr. J preached a heartfelt and fabulous sermon. RV pulled out the wee console organ to accompany A-M on the Jubilate, while both were in the sanctuary and wearing vestments. We had TWO hymns this week instead of just one (the 2nd was unison and A-M and RV in the sanctuary with the big organ), we had lots of lovely canticle-and-psalm chanting (I did not embarass myself), and we actually had a choir anthem. I hadn't realized how much I was missing choir anthems until we had one. After that, I walked the doggos, lunched, and then started working on the opening of the musical, which I finished (or rather, hit a good stopping place) after delightful evening walkies (Mr. 42 and the girls and I met another pair of dachshunds!) and really-hit-the-spot dinner break (Habit Burger). And then there was more She-Ra!
This week, I have some pretty concrete goals that I hope to make small bits of progress towards each day. Firstly, Friday is the deadline for Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 6, and I really would like to get in a track for that, so I'm going to be polishing that to a high shine this week and see if I can't make that happen. I should get in a draft of the first song lyrics ASAP and futz with the opening scene. I will have church music of some sort. I need to return 2 items to Amazon, which involves a trip to the UPS Store in the shopping complex across the street, which I hope to combine with at least one other necessary errand (probably depositing my check for Heavenly Choir, bless them for still paying me). And tonight, Master Chorale is meeting with a special guest composer/conductor who'll be doing a clinic/workshop with us, which should be interesting via Zoom. I will consider last week's plan to wear cosplay as I'm walking the girls between work and rehearsal. How elaborate I get depends on what I am able to get in way of food beforehand. If worst comes to worst, I can wear one of my several crowns. Or do blonde Leia buns.
Feeling a bit emotionally unsettled today. It's the anniversary of a pretty horrible day. The pandemic news continues to be discouraging and infuriating in turns. Ditto this afternoon's social media. But I did get to enjoy a thoroughly lovely panel discussion on Fantasy Literature in Times of Crisis, which features current and past Pembroke College Tolkien Lecturers which was held this weekend in lieu of the lecture itself. And I discovered that I know the piece I want to record this week better than I thought I did. But yeah, today was not the most cheerful.
OK. Work day for which I accomplished next to nothing is over. Will push around words for a bit, then walk the dogs.
Smooches and Hugs to All!
Mun42
Last week was a bit of a blur, but I did manage to sit a required training or two, we had a Heavenly Choir rehearsal on Tuesday and on Thursday, almost the entire choir (20 singers, including RV!) recorded this brilliant anthem (whose Psalm lines spell out "QUARANTINE" in acrostic), which was written to be performed on Zoom, though it can also be performed in canon. Friday was my Pop's birthday, so I hosted a Zoom party for him, which was a lot of fun, especially since it wasn't just the immediate family. We got BIL and neice, Uncle T and Aunt J, Cousin S and her husband and 3 kids, and Cousin K and his daughter. Dad opened presents on the call (my extremely juvenile gift went over well, methinks), and we attempted to sing Happy Birthday, which Zoom didn't know what to do with, but I think he appreciated the sentiment. We kept the call from being too long by doing it before his birthday steak dinner, but it was still lovely to see everyone and wish Pop an excellent Milestone Birthday! I also had a lot of fun with my hosting privileges and kept changing everyone's names to nonsensical and strange things. Heh heh heh.
It was a rather busy weekend with not too much in the way of getting caught up on sleep, but at least I made a bit of headway on my (much less dire than in my previous life) sleep deficit. I was unable to sleep in on Saturday, since we had a 9am church service recording session for which SV and I chanted the appointed psalm in real time. After that, I walked the dogs and worked on the musical concept/characters. When Mr. 42 got home from work, we had dinner and started on the fifth and final season of Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which is pretty awesome so far (we are currently 9 episodes in).
Sunday, I was up slightly less early for the service broadcast, which I watched/listened to/commented on whilst doing laundry. And I gotta say, we collectively made really good, meaningful, and moving church this week. Fr. J preached a heartfelt and fabulous sermon. RV pulled out the wee console organ to accompany A-M on the Jubilate, while both were in the sanctuary and wearing vestments. We had TWO hymns this week instead of just one (the 2nd was unison and A-M and RV in the sanctuary with the big organ), we had lots of lovely canticle-and-psalm chanting (I did not embarass myself), and we actually had a choir anthem. I hadn't realized how much I was missing choir anthems until we had one. After that, I walked the doggos, lunched, and then started working on the opening of the musical, which I finished (or rather, hit a good stopping place) after delightful evening walkies (Mr. 42 and the girls and I met another pair of dachshunds!) and really-hit-the-spot dinner break (Habit Burger). And then there was more She-Ra!
This week, I have some pretty concrete goals that I hope to make small bits of progress towards each day. Firstly, Friday is the deadline for Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 6, and I really would like to get in a track for that, so I'm going to be polishing that to a high shine this week and see if I can't make that happen. I should get in a draft of the first song lyrics ASAP and futz with the opening scene. I will have church music of some sort. I need to return 2 items to Amazon, which involves a trip to the UPS Store in the shopping complex across the street, which I hope to combine with at least one other necessary errand (probably depositing my check for Heavenly Choir, bless them for still paying me). And tonight, Master Chorale is meeting with a special guest composer/conductor who'll be doing a clinic/workshop with us, which should be interesting via Zoom. I will consider last week's plan to wear cosplay as I'm walking the girls between work and rehearsal. How elaborate I get depends on what I am able to get in way of food beforehand. If worst comes to worst, I can wear one of my several crowns. Or do blonde Leia buns.
Feeling a bit emotionally unsettled today. It's the anniversary of a pretty horrible day. The pandemic news continues to be discouraging and infuriating in turns. Ditto this afternoon's social media. But I did get to enjoy a thoroughly lovely panel discussion on Fantasy Literature in Times of Crisis, which features current and past Pembroke College Tolkien Lecturers which was held this weekend in lieu of the lecture itself. And I discovered that I know the piece I want to record this week better than I thought I did. But yeah, today was not the most cheerful.
OK. Work day for which I accomplished next to nothing is over. Will push around words for a bit, then walk the dogs.
Smooches and Hugs to All!
Mun42