Do you ever get to the end of your week and look at your To Do list and think ACK!! where did the dang week GO?!
No? Me neither.
[cough cough]
I whipped through a number of things on my list today, I'm proud to say.
Yesterday was a weird day. I had the school appointment, then a break, then an audition.
When I was young I did a lot of singing and acting, so auditions were no big deal to me. Now, however, I had not even attempted choir singing in about 6 years, so my voice is.... rusty.
I studied voice for 5 years when I was a teen. My voice teacher got mad when I was 18 and he started talking about my Opera Career, and I said basically, um, NO. He was way up in his 70's and I think had forgotten to mention to ME that he thought I should sing opera. I had [and still have] a big voice, close to three octaves.
I love to sing in the shower. I now don't CARE who hears me. Hey, it's a free concert, y'all...
But real singing is different. It's like the difference between playing a game of catch in the backyard and playing in the World Series. The yucky part about being 51 is that now my high notes are sounding wobbly, when I can reach them at all. ACK ACK ACK!!!
I started vocalizing at the piano yesterday afternoon and quickly felt faint. I've always been able to get close to a high C, but I couldn't get anywhere near that thing. Disappointed and horrified are not strong enough words to describe my feelings.
So I went to my audition for the Atlanta Women's Chorus without a prepared piece. I couldn't see singing "My Favorite Things" an octave lower than normal. That would just be creepy.
The audition went much better than I had thought it would. There was only the choir director, assistant director, and me. They were super gracious. I did some warmups, some sight-reading, and then just sang America the Beautiful, acappella.
I am excited to be part of a chorus that's aimed at everyone, not just a church audience. I loved singing in church choirs but I didn't always like the repertoire. I like all kinds of music.
I will be singing Alto, which is a bit of a challenge, but there are audio files available of each part on each song, so it should be OK.
When I was in middle school in Knoxville the choir director, Ms. Gilbreath, made tapes for us of each vocal part and we listened to them many times to learn our part. I learn best by ear, although I can read music.
Anyway, our first concert isn't until June, so we have time...
Just to get in the harmonizing spirit, here is a funny song from the hilarious Steve Martin and the very talented Steep Canyon Rangers [none of whom are women but who cares?!]:
