Singing

On Saturday, we had a marathon rehearsal for the Archdiocesan Choir concert that's coming up in 6 short days. I'm so glad we worked the Lauridsen piece TO DEATH, because it desperately needed such focused concentration (3.5 hours). I hope that the tenor section can pull it off. They sounded pretty scary from where I was sitting. (Sopranos, of course, were wonderful. As were the altos; seems like just the men could use more work. Sorry, folks, them's the facts. Meow.) I think part of the problem is that so many of the singers in that choir are stretched thin, musically. They sing in this or that concert ensemble, plus their parish choir, plus the Arch Choir. It's too much and no one has time to concentrate on that much music unless they don't have day jobs. It was frustrating, to say the least, but again, I'm glad we got the practice-time in.

Speaking of practice, I have just been going over the Ave Maria for a wedding I've been asked to sing. A paid gig, people! And $125 extra dollars fit very nicely into my budget plan for a whole new wardrobe. I hope I will do the song justice. My paternal Grandmother, "Peachy," was known in her little town for singing at weddings, in every church and every denomination. :) I wonder how many she did in her lifetime? I am using the same music she did, in all its tattered glory. My Dad saved it for me after she died. I am soooo thankful to him for giving me that little piece of her. I love seeing her markings (in pen!! eeks!) among the notes. She had a beautiful voice. She taught me two of the lullabies that I sing to AJ, which are the large majoiry of what I sing these days.

This weekend, besides lullabye-ing, I also got to cantor the 5:30 vigil Mass, just me, alone, with the microphone, as loud as you please in front of a congregation who NEVER joined in. Can you see my big grin all the way from over there? I was thrilled to be asked; apparently the regular guy was on vacation. It actually went very well; the things I screwed up were only really audible to me and probably to the pianist. And I learned, I think, that little mistakes (or big ones) are just God's way of keeping my ego in check. (I promise you, it's in check. I don't claim to be the greatest singer out there by any means.) There was also a flutist, about 40 years old or so, who hadn't played in front of anyone since she was 18. She was uber-nervous, which silenced the butterflies in my tummy, since, thank heavens, I have performed in front of people much more recently. (She did great, by the way.) Another little gift though, for which I was grateful.

The only drawback to all of this was that DH was designated babysitter for most of the weekend. I know he doesn't mind -- as a parent, one of the things you crave most is time with your little one -- but I also felt bad for taking away time that he could have been doing something for himself. I don't know what... mowing the lawn? He doesn't play golf or have many hobbies that require him to be out and about. But he deserves some time. Problem is, with the wedding and the dress rehearsal for the concert, and Sunday morning Mass, next weekend will be much the same. I have scheduled a babysitter so that DH can go to hear the concert himself (oh yes, choral music is SO his thing, not)... maybe we can go have a drink afterwards. I'm sure I'll be quite thirsty after all the music-making.