I'm singing this at church on Christmas Eve. Pretty, eh? I'm supposed to study the youtube video to learn how to pronounce the Polish.
I think I'll do that later. Now it's bedtime.
Showing posts with label choir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choir. Show all posts
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Monday, July 07, 2008
washington times, 50 cent
Here's a review of Candide from the other paper in town. One would expect that paper to be snippy about the political jokes. Still waiting to see if the Post reviewed it. (They did write into it.) (UPDATE, 7/8: Post review. Doesn't even mention the chorus! Bum!)
The Washington Times is definitely the #2 paper in town. A distant #2. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it's #3 or 4 now, after the free papers they hand out outside metro stations.
For the last couple of weeks there's been a teenage boy outside the station closest to my work wearing a "Washington Times Summer Youth Hawker Program" sign around his neck, holding a little stack of newspapers. I can't imagine he sells many. Every time I come up the escalator he looks so hopeful, it just kills me. I could take pity and buy one, but...I don't want a Washington Times. (And I don't think anyone else does, either. Aah! The guilt!)
The Washington Times is definitely the #2 paper in town. A distant #2. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it's #3 or 4 now, after the free papers they hand out outside metro stations.
For the last couple of weeks there's been a teenage boy outside the station closest to my work wearing a "Washington Times Summer Youth Hawker Program" sign around his neck, holding a little stack of newspapers. I can't imagine he sells many. Every time I come up the escalator he looks so hopeful, it just kills me. I could take pity and buy one, but...I don't want a Washington Times. (And I don't think anyone else does, either. Aah! The guilt!)
what a day what a day for an auto-da-fé
Right, so, I sang Candide on Sunday. I think it went really well. I certainly felt like I was singing well. And the conductor cooled his bat-out-of-hell tempos a bit for the performance, so we got out more of the words than in the other rehearsals with him.
An unfortunate fact of the hall is that you can't hear a dang thing when you're seated at the back of the stage. So the soloists and narrator were chatting away and it sounded like mush. Completely unintelligible. It was kind of sad not to get to appreciate this performance that was, judging by the audience's reaction, hilarious.
E.C. took pictures of us at rehearsal on Saturday, so she got two free tickets and took Miss Shirley. N.Lu and S.Vix came, too, but left at intermission because their butts were wet. (There was a lot of rain during the day and I gather the lawn was not very hospitable.) Everyone said they liked it, so, yay!
I love when people come to my performances. I know I'm just one completely indistinguishable voice in a big mass of performers, but it means a lot to me when people come to see me.
That's it for my series of random choir concerts - no more performing til...probably December! Crazy!
Blog posts about the show: Someone at the park got to party with Jason Alexander. (Also, a bit about rehearsal.) An audience member. Another one. (Nobody mentions the chorus. Sigh.) And another. (Which mentions the chorus, but inaccurately - we were amplified, too.) And here are some official photos. (You can see me in one of them, if you're looking really closely and know what the woman standing next to me looks like.) Another official post, mostly about Jason Alexander.
An unfortunate fact of the hall is that you can't hear a dang thing when you're seated at the back of the stage. So the soloists and narrator were chatting away and it sounded like mush. Completely unintelligible. It was kind of sad not to get to appreciate this performance that was, judging by the audience's reaction, hilarious.
E.C. took pictures of us at rehearsal on Saturday, so she got two free tickets and took Miss Shirley. N.Lu and S.Vix came, too, but left at intermission because their butts were wet. (There was a lot of rain during the day and I gather the lawn was not very hospitable.) Everyone said they liked it, so, yay!
I love when people come to my performances. I know I'm just one completely indistinguishable voice in a big mass of performers, but it means a lot to me when people come to see me.
That's it for my series of random choir concerts - no more performing til...probably December! Crazy!
Blog posts about the show: Someone at the park got to party with Jason Alexander. (Also, a bit about rehearsal.) An audience member. Another one. (Nobody mentions the chorus. Sigh.) And another. (Which mentions the chorus, but inaccurately - we were amplified, too.) And here are some official photos. (You can see me in one of them, if you're looking really closely and know what the woman standing next to me looks like.) Another official post, mostly about Jason Alexander.
Monday, June 30, 2008
candide
Of all the random things I signed up to sing this summer, Candide was the one I was most excited about. And it turned out to be the most difficult. Candide is a comic operetta by Leonard Bernstein based on the 18th-century novel by Voltaire. It's about how it's dumb to go around saying everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds. It's satirical and dirty and very entertaining. There's a big aria about syphilis.
The notes aren't hard, if you're me and have had them memorized for over a decade. But stylistically it's tough. We're supposed to be singing like an opera chorus, which means like soloists who are trying to make it but are choosing to blend. I normally sing in a sweet little choir voice. This is not that.
Also, Bernstein wrote stuff that is insanely difficult to sing in tune. Like this chorus, which is lovely but REALLY wants to go flat. Like, a half step flat. Or more. (The accompaniment helps a little, but mostly I have to raise my eyebrows a lot.)
Come hear it for yourself Sunday night. It's great music and a fun show, and this guy is in it. Yeah, apparently he has a great Broadway voice - who knew? (I won't hear him until Sunday afternoon at the dress rehearsal.)
The notes aren't hard, if you're me and have had them memorized for over a decade. But stylistically it's tough. We're supposed to be singing like an opera chorus, which means like soloists who are trying to make it but are choosing to blend. I normally sing in a sweet little choir voice. This is not that.
Also, Bernstein wrote stuff that is insanely difficult to sing in tune. Like this chorus, which is lovely but REALLY wants to go flat. Like, a half step flat. Or more. (The accompaniment helps a little, but mostly I have to raise my eyebrows a lot.)
Come hear it for yourself Sunday night. It's great music and a fun show, and this guy is in it. Yeah, apparently he has a great Broadway voice - who knew? (I won't hear him until Sunday afternoon at the dress rehearsal.)
Monday, June 09, 2008
Saturday, June 07, 2008
peer gone
Peer Gynt is over now. It was really a pleasure to sing. Also, I'm told by people who came to the concert that it was fantastic. And most of these people didn't even give birth to me.
Tonight when we finished there was tons of lightning. As I drove home I put on a recording I'd been using to practice. The first few miles of my drive home are along a dark winding woodsy road - with In the Hall of the Mountain King playing and lightning turning the sky purple. Not a bad end to the evening.
The conductor has apparently been taking this Peer Gynt show on the road for the centennial of Grieg's death, so if you get a chance, you should definitely check it out. And if you can, arrange for lightning afterward.
Tonight when we finished there was tons of lightning. As I drove home I put on a recording I'd been using to practice. The first few miles of my drive home are along a dark winding woodsy road - with In the Hall of the Mountain King playing and lightning turning the sky purple. Not a bad end to the evening.
The conductor has apparently been taking this Peer Gynt show on the road for the centennial of Grieg's death, so if you get a chance, you should definitely check it out. And if you can, arrange for lightning afterward.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
velsignede morgen
Tonight was the opening night for Peer Gynt. It went quite well. This is our biggest choral moment. (That is not us singing it, obviously, but OAMers should definitely look at who *is* singing it.) It's right near the end of the piece, we have to remember our starting pitch through about 30 seconds of narration, and the orchestra comes in soon enough after we sing that we really ought to end it in the same key we started in. (Those of you who have sung in choirs will know that this is really hard.) And the conductor is taking it suuuuper slow and milking it for all its got. Good stuff.
And to balance out that awesome moment, a totally dumb moment: We sing "slagt ham" a whole bunch of times in one section. It means "slaughter him!" and it's really loud and fast and violent. There's a series of them where someone says a line, then we yell - ok, sing - "slagt ham!" while the orchestra plays two notes really fast. Well, the first one of those? We didn't sing it. It was like the whole choir agreed to not bother coming in. Heh heh. Oops. (After that, we paid attention.)
And to balance out that awesome moment, a totally dumb moment: We sing "slagt ham" a whole bunch of times in one section. It means "slaughter him!" and it's really loud and fast and violent. There's a series of them where someone says a line, then we yell - ok, sing - "slagt ham!" while the orchestra plays two notes really fast. Well, the first one of those? We didn't sing it. It was like the whole choir agreed to not bother coming in. Heh heh. Oops. (After that, we paid attention.)
a ticket offer
If you follow this link, you'll see some $20 orchestra tickets for Peer Gynt. Performances are tonight, tomorrow afternoon, and Saturday night.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
slagt ham!
If anyone here in the area is looking for entertainment this Thursday-Saturday, I'm singing in this. (Yknow, me and 75 of my closest friends.) This is another gig where the choir doesn't sing that much, so I look forward to sitting right behind a fantastic orchestra for three performances of Peer Gynt, while getting up and singing occasionally. If you can go to the Friday afternoon show, let me know and I'll forward you a two-for-the-price-of-one ticket offer.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
peer gynt
Guess what? I joined another choir. This one is singing Peer Gynt next week and they really needed some extra voices. And they're singing it in Norwegian. I was afraid I might be put on the spot, so I went through it with a dictionary last night but I couldn't find most of the words I didn't know - there's Danish, dialect, all kinds of wacky stuff going on in there. And indeed, when the alto who recruited me introduced me at tonight's rehearsal, she said that I speak Norwegian.
So we're working on diction in this one passage and the director asks me for some sense of what we're singing, and I'm like, "Uhhhhhhh...." Here's what I can translate of that section: "We are thoughts, you should have thought us. [Noun], you should have [verbed] us. [Adverb] we should have as [adjective] [plural noun]...." It's this really odd, abstract poem sung by a knot (yeah. no idea.) and a chorus of withered leaves, and it has a whooole lotta vocab I didn't learn in Norway.
I think he gave up on my alleged language skills then, but I redeemed myself later in the evening when we were singing a passage that goes "The prophet has come! Play flute and drum! To us he has come, over the sand sea riding!" *That* I can translate. Basic nouns and cognates are my forte.
So we're working on diction in this one passage and the director asks me for some sense of what we're singing, and I'm like, "Uhhhhhhh...." Here's what I can translate of that section: "We are thoughts, you should have thought us. [Noun], you should have [verbed] us. [Adverb] we should have as [adjective] [plural noun]...." It's this really odd, abstract poem sung by a knot (yeah. no idea.) and a chorus of withered leaves, and it has a whooole lotta vocab I didn't learn in Norway.
I think he gave up on my alleged language skills then, but I redeemed myself later in the evening when we were singing a passage that goes "The prophet has come! Play flute and drum! To us he has come, over the sand sea riding!" *That* I can translate. Basic nouns and cognates are my forte.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
two towers?
Also, one of those blogs contains the completely unsourced statement that Wolf Trap is working on doing the Two Towers next summer. Which, if true, is totally win-win: If the same choir does it again, I get to sing it, yay!! If another choir does it, I get to go see it, yay!!
Actually, the way the local choir world seems to work, if another choir does it, someone in that choir will try to recruit me to sing with them. Thursday I got an e-mail asking if I want to sing Peer Gynt at the Kennedy Center with another choir. (Correct answer: Yes.) Then in July I'm back at Wolf Trap for another concert with the first choir.
Yayyyy, music!!
Actually, the way the local choir world seems to work, if another choir does it, someone in that choir will try to recruit me to sing with them. Thursday I got an e-mail asking if I want to sing Peer Gynt at the Kennedy Center with another choir. (Correct answer: Yes.) Then in July I'm back at Wolf Trap for another concert with the first choir.
Yayyyy, music!!
Friday, May 23, 2008
more blog reviews
This dude liked it. Also, one of his friends uses a picture of Éomer as his avatar. Nerdy awesomeness. This review is sandwiched between personal life news that is probably only interesting if you know the person. Which I don't. Ooh! Here's an official wolf trap blog with a photo slideshow! And here's a compilation o' reviews, including one really really glowing one. Yay.
UPDATE, 5/24: More! A particularly well-written glowing review; someone who got cold and left but was nice about it; another cold fan. This fan took pictures.
UPDATE, 5/26: We were EPIC WIN. Another singer gives even more detail, with funny conductor quotes.
UPDATE, 5/27: They liked it at theonering.net. A happy, wet geek calls the show "magnificent."
UPDATE, 6/18: People are still blogging about it! (Woo!) This dude liked. We were clear and stuff. Someone posted more pictures.
UPDATE, 5/24: More! A particularly well-written glowing review; someone who got cold and left but was nice about it; another cold fan. This fan took pictures.
UPDATE, 5/26: We were EPIC WIN. Another singer gives even more detail, with funny conductor quotes.
UPDATE, 5/27: They liked it at theonering.net. A happy, wet geek calls the show "magnificent."
UPDATE, 6/18: People are still blogging about it! (Woo!) This dude liked. We were clear and stuff. Someone posted more pictures.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
why I'm not insane
Because there has been concern from more than one direction (by which I mean, not only my mom), let me clarify: I am not actually insane. My German class ended last week and the May version of the Christmas show is this weekend, so that's three nights of my week cleared up. Adding a choir for one night a week = not a problem.
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