Me and Ludwig van

[owlmoose]

We had our first of two concerts tonight: Beethoven's Mass in C, which is one of my all-time favorite pieces to sing (I first performed it in my second-ever concert with this group, almost exactly 14 years ago). The first dress, on Tuesday, went okay, but it was pretty iffy in a few places. Then on Thursday, the conductor reconfigured the orchestra so that he could stand a lot closer to us, making it about a thousand times easier to follow his lead, and that change brought it all together. We really clicked in that final dress, and it carried through into tonight. No major flubs, and we had excellent energy throughout.

The new quarter starts in April, but the piece is the Berlioz Requiem, which we did several years back and I really didn't care for. Mainly, the problem is that there's no Alto part, which means that we end up drifting between Second Soprano and Tenor, and I'm not comfortable singing in either of those ranges, especially not Soprano. So I'm thinking that I'll take the quarter off. It's one thing to take a chance on repertoire I know nothing about and ending up not liking it much; it's another to commit every Monday night for two months to a piece of music that I *know* I don't like.

Second show is tomorrow. I'll miss singing the Beethoven when it's over. It will be nice to get my life back, though.

Comments

[taricalmcacil.livejournal.com]

Good choice, there can be few things as frustrating as singing a part that doesn't fit your voice. It just kinda zaps the joy out of singing. I always hated it when my high school choir conductor would try to make me sing the Alto I just because I was one of the strongest singers she had, despite the fact that I'm a stereotypical Second Soprano and I can't reach half the Alto I notes comfortably...

As for having your life back, it is nice to take a break. I had to take this semester off choir because other classes were in the way, and I'm a lot more relaxed than I've been in a while.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

My chorus buddies are already trying to lure me to stay; we'll see how much willpower I have against them!

I always take the summer off from singing. My chorus doesn't sing during the summer, but there's a summer chorus sponsored by the same music department; sometimes it's been tempting, but I appreciate the free months. If I don't sing the Berlioz, it'll basically extend my summer break by a couple of months.

I always hated it when my high school choir conductor would try to make me sing the Alto I just because I was one of the strongest singers she had

I knew someone like that in my high school chorus: she was really a soprano, but the director had her sing alto because he wanted her strong voice in that slot. She never complained in my hearing, but I always got the feeling she resented it. Myself, I've been an alto since I was first slotted with the lower voices in 6th grade; I was bummed out at first, but soon I came to love singing harmony.