Yes, it's finally over. It was okay--kinda wabi sabi. I rushed things because I was nervous and I just wanted to get out of there. One person on the jury seemed happy. The other two, seemed underwhelmed. Anyway, I survived without loss of body organ or limb and I am SO relieved it's over. It's been twenty years since my last audition--I'm a lot older and wider now. (No, that is not a typo.)
The trick is not to go all low status, which I think I accomplished. But can you believe that I was waiting outside in the cold, locked building for my audition and a dude from another theatre company comes along and wouldn't let me in? Dude, I hope karma bites you in the ASS.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sensuous Singing
I think that one of the best things about singing it the pure sensuous pleasure. I love the sounds the voice can make, but also the sounds of the languages we sing. Today we immersed ourselves in Italian, and mio bella, I could just dive into those words. The harmonies are gonna really resonate too. It also gives us the privilege of singing and memorizing poetry, which is a lovely pastime. It feels like a decadent guilty pleasure to me.
I sometimes regret I didn't study languages and singing at University. I loved singing in some contexts, but truth be told, I wasn't a big fan of other musicians I met. They were even more introverted and geeky than I was and I found some of them immature and irritating. I KNOW I'm making horrible generalizations, but it just wasn't my tribe at the time. I just haven't found my tribe of musicians and I do long for one, pray for one and dream of forming a band and touring off into the sunset. It just hasn't happened. Yet.
Singing as a hobby is great. Less pressure, different expectations. Singing for pleasure. Singing for the soul. Music does tend to take over my mind and haunt me, so that also might be a reason I never became a pro. It might have literally driven me mad. I'm serious. And I'm not naturally musically intelligent. I really have to work at it, even though it is a labor of love. Becoming a classical singer requires great feats of stamina (emotional and physical) reading and memory skills that I really never have had the capacity for. Sometimes it's good to be realistic about your limitations.
The great thing about being part of a choir is team work, fun, harmony, and the satisfaction of performing the more difficult works. It's humbling too, to be a small part of a giant human musical organ. Keepin' it real, yo.
I sometimes regret I didn't study languages and singing at University. I loved singing in some contexts, but truth be told, I wasn't a big fan of other musicians I met. They were even more introverted and geeky than I was and I found some of them immature and irritating. I KNOW I'm making horrible generalizations, but it just wasn't my tribe at the time. I just haven't found my tribe of musicians and I do long for one, pray for one and dream of forming a band and touring off into the sunset. It just hasn't happened. Yet.
Singing as a hobby is great. Less pressure, different expectations. Singing for pleasure. Singing for the soul. Music does tend to take over my mind and haunt me, so that also might be a reason I never became a pro. It might have literally driven me mad. I'm serious. And I'm not naturally musically intelligent. I really have to work at it, even though it is a labor of love. Becoming a classical singer requires great feats of stamina (emotional and physical) reading and memory skills that I really never have had the capacity for. Sometimes it's good to be realistic about your limitations.
The great thing about being part of a choir is team work, fun, harmony, and the satisfaction of performing the more difficult works. It's humbling too, to be a small part of a giant human musical organ. Keepin' it real, yo.
Untouchable Wimmin
I LOVE these women! I want them to adopt me! We watched the documentary on them called "Untouchable Woman." The "Catering Corps" from the clip above makes me roar with laughter. And they are such good singers too!
I am in AWE.
Holy Weather System, Batman!
Wow. That is a cold wind out there today. If it had been back home, it would have been a February blizzard for sure. Not as many folks at Seedy Saturday. I feel bad for the vendors who come all this way to sell their wares. It did snow at last year's Seedy Saturday IIRC, but it wasn't this windy.
We had a good sectional rehearsal today. We are singing in Italian, so we're practicing getting our voices around the words. It is the best language to sing in. Lovely open vowels.
For my Saturday lunch treat I headed down to the buffet at Saravana Bhavan and it was really good today. There was this coconut vegetable dish that had those long green beans cut up into tiny bite-sized pieces--It was so awesome with their tomato chutney. One of their soups was so spicy it just about blew my head off--I was suitably impressed. I had gulab jaman for dessert with their frothy, milky chai. I think they use evaporated milk. I've had some disappointing, watery dishes at SB, but today the quality was very good. There were a lot of families enjoying a Saturday meal out on the town.
We had a good sectional rehearsal today. We are singing in Italian, so we're practicing getting our voices around the words. It is the best language to sing in. Lovely open vowels.
For my Saturday lunch treat I headed down to the buffet at Saravana Bhavan and it was really good today. There was this coconut vegetable dish that had those long green beans cut up into tiny bite-sized pieces--It was so awesome with their tomato chutney. One of their soups was so spicy it just about blew my head off--I was suitably impressed. I had gulab jaman for dessert with their frothy, milky chai. I think they use evaporated milk. I've had some disappointing, watery dishes at SB, but today the quality was very good. There were a lot of families enjoying a Saturday meal out on the town.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wednesday Rituals
One thing that's good about hobbies is the weekly and daily rituals they add to your lives. Having choir on Wednesdays means I have to 1) do laundry and 2) take a bath. We get a lecture at the beginning of the term to practice good body hygiene because we sing so close to one another. It's a good point and now I am totally paranoid, so I try to make sure I am not offending anyone I'm singing next to with my BO. Today I worked up a sweat working in the garden so I had a nice hot bath to get clean and relax my spasming back muscles.
It's also a day to work at the new music, pronouncing the unfamiliar Latin and going over tunes and rhythms. Some songs are already firmly planted in my head so I am already avoiding rehearsing them so I don't get sick of those ones. We don't have a real Ipod, but we have an Ipod Shuffle, which I've finally figured out how to use with the choir tracks our conductor uploads on our choir's website. This is already changing my life and putting a new spring in my step.
First honey bee sighting for 21012 at noon today, and the crocus blooms are open.
It's also a day to work at the new music, pronouncing the unfamiliar Latin and going over tunes and rhythms. Some songs are already firmly planted in my head so I am already avoiding rehearsing them so I don't get sick of those ones. We don't have a real Ipod, but we have an Ipod Shuffle, which I've finally figured out how to use with the choir tracks our conductor uploads on our choir's website. This is already changing my life and putting a new spring in my step.
First honey bee sighting for 21012 at noon today, and the crocus blooms are open.
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