No Doctor Who tonight :-(
So this is Christmas...
So far its been a solitary one for me: Emma's gone up to her parents and won't be back until tonight. Work wound down about 3 in the afternoon yesterday, so I idled around in the city for an hour before heading home.
In preparation for the onslaught of carolling (up until now I hadn't done any Advent gigs this year) I sauntered into Fine Music (recently bought out by Billy Hyde Music) and purchased a copy of the famed Green Book, aka Carols for Choirs 1. (I also lusted over various things and bought a copy of the 40th anniversary edition of DWM from Minotaur.)
So far I have spent 8 hours of the last 20 doing various carolling gigs, and am just about to head off to the next one. If the ABC weren't reverting to form and showing nothing but Christmas drivel all day, then I'd stay behind at 6 to watch the final part of the Doctor Who serial (where the Doctor and companions get chased across the universe by the Daleks who have a time machine of their own). However they aren't showing it, so I'll have to wait till Monday now. Bastards.
Wednesday 7 pm
Carolling at the Grand Hyatt. We had an octet, so a good number. There were already two singers on each part except for alto, so I ended up singing alto all night. Of course, I had expected to be singing tenor, so the various bits of cramming I had done of the more difficult sight-reading exercises was entirely wasted.
The assistant manager bossing us around was completely off his trolley however; must be one of those people whose aim in life must be to kick as many arses as possible.
10.30 pm
Finish at the Grand Hyatt, pop over to St George's Malvern for Instant Midnight Mass. Back to singing tenor, but as we had five good singers in a contingent of about forty, which was more than enough. Could have been shambolic, judging by the rehearsal.
11.30 pm
Middle of the road Anglican (Episcopalian) service. Mind you, we did have vestments, bells and smells (incense), and reasonable music. I was completely offended by the thurifer's unwillingness to turn to the choir and cense us (so I was incensed in precisely the wrong sense!) Singing the middle verse of the Coventry Carol very loudly in the middle of communion was probably a bit insensitive, liturgically.
Thursday 12.30 am
White wine and strawberries dipped in chocolate. Mmmm.
1.30 am
Still going on the white wine (battling ironicshell for the last glass).
3.00 am
Bed.
9.30 am
Up again, get ready to go off to the next gig...
12.00 pm
A septet at the Grand Hyatt: 2 sopranos, 2 altos, 1 tenor, 1 bass, and me. I started off singing tenor, but we soon realised the sopranos weren't carrying the tune very strongly, so we put one of the altos up to soprano, and I jumped back up to alto.
Excellent food for lunch however. Phoned Emma on the way home to wish her a merry Christmas but she's not answering. Grr.
If that's not bad enough, tonight we have lost our soprano to illness, so presumably the altos (me included) will have to sing soprano. Right...
So far its been a solitary one for me: Emma's gone up to her parents and won't be back until tonight. Work wound down about 3 in the afternoon yesterday, so I idled around in the city for an hour before heading home.
In preparation for the onslaught of carolling (up until now I hadn't done any Advent gigs this year) I sauntered into Fine Music (recently bought out by Billy Hyde Music) and purchased a copy of the famed Green Book, aka Carols for Choirs 1. (I also lusted over various things and bought a copy of the 40th anniversary edition of DWM from Minotaur.)
So far I have spent 8 hours of the last 20 doing various carolling gigs, and am just about to head off to the next one. If the ABC weren't reverting to form and showing nothing but Christmas drivel all day, then I'd stay behind at 6 to watch the final part of the Doctor Who serial (where the Doctor and companions get chased across the universe by the Daleks who have a time machine of their own). However they aren't showing it, so I'll have to wait till Monday now. Bastards.
Wednesday 7 pm
Carolling at the Grand Hyatt. We had an octet, so a good number. There were already two singers on each part except for alto, so I ended up singing alto all night. Of course, I had expected to be singing tenor, so the various bits of cramming I had done of the more difficult sight-reading exercises was entirely wasted.
The assistant manager bossing us around was completely off his trolley however; must be one of those people whose aim in life must be to kick as many arses as possible.
10.30 pm
Finish at the Grand Hyatt, pop over to St George's Malvern for Instant Midnight Mass. Back to singing tenor, but as we had five good singers in a contingent of about forty, which was more than enough. Could have been shambolic, judging by the rehearsal.
11.30 pm
Middle of the road Anglican (Episcopalian) service. Mind you, we did have vestments, bells and smells (incense), and reasonable music. I was completely offended by the thurifer's unwillingness to turn to the choir and cense us (so I was incensed in precisely the wrong sense!) Singing the middle verse of the Coventry Carol very loudly in the middle of communion was probably a bit insensitive, liturgically.
Thursday 12.30 am
White wine and strawberries dipped in chocolate. Mmmm.
1.30 am
Still going on the white wine (battling ironicshell for the last glass).
3.00 am
Bed.
9.30 am
Up again, get ready to go off to the next gig...
12.00 pm
A septet at the Grand Hyatt: 2 sopranos, 2 altos, 1 tenor, 1 bass, and me. I started off singing tenor, but we soon realised the sopranos weren't carrying the tune very strongly, so we put one of the altos up to soprano, and I jumped back up to alto.
Excellent food for lunch however. Phoned Emma on the way home to wish her a merry Christmas but she's not answering. Grr.
If that's not bad enough, tonight we have lost our soprano to illness, so presumably the altos (me included) will have to sing soprano. Right...