Today, I have the opportunity to sing for a fellow choristers memorial service. Singers. . . even in death we want song. We want to celebrate the music that has moved our hearts and touched us deeply. Our songs define us in many ways. The songs that resonate with us ; that strike a chord in us. . . Your instrument is your voice - an integral, intimate, living part of your very being. There is no separation between the singer and the song. Maybe that is it. Once a song has become organic to you and part of you - even if you die - the song creates a lingering remembrance of you. Choristers - no one really pays us much heed. No one knows if we are intimately engaged (okay, maybe some can guess, but its not always obvious). And it has nothing to do with the quality of my voice. I can be entirely engaged as a singer and not make a beautiful sound. The sounds that come out of my vocal apparatus are produced because I love to sing.
The type of song that means the most to me varies and can be of any genre. The songs that resonate with me are as diverse as "Bridge Over Troubled Water", 'Breath of Heaven", the entire Brahms Requiem, Morten Lauridsen, Mozart "Ave Verum", Be Thou My Vision. . . . and a holy host of others.
When I die, I can think of no greater event than to have all the people singing. . . joining in the grand chorus which I have joined in heaven. Hopefully, God will save a place for me in the choir. . and maybe we'll sing mixed up!
Rest in Peace George
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Two Shows - One Weekend
The impossible is now happening - I'm IN two shows in one weekend. This is a first. In addition to which, I am also simultaneously learning Bach and my part in Oklahoma in addition to playing in the pit (bell girl here) for Good News. Oh, and in the meantime I have to be an even dealer with the people around me.
Still, all in all, think about the excitement that brings into my life. Today, for example, I went to church at 9, sang in the choir for 1 1/2 services, went to Severn - worked from 12:30 - 2:30, took a dinner break, back at 4 and worked until 7:30, then home for a phone meeting with the stage director for Oklahoma. Tomorrow I have to copy 178 pages of score, get it bound, and back to Severn by a 2:00 o'clock downbeat, make a run chart for backstage at Maryland Hall, go to a rehearsal for Bach at 7 and then get home by 11.
I do what I do because it is FUN....as I define it. I love being involved with performing in whatever capacity I am in the performance. You see, it really isn't about me. I cannot deny that I get a kick out of it - no one does anything too long if it is painful - and to that end it does gratify me. However, it really is about creating something to give.
I don't have a lot of worldly possessions. What I have to give is my time, talent, and energy - and my brain I suppose. People keep telling me I've got one :) Sometimes I wish I hadn't listened to people who told me that performing would never make money. I let people tell me how talented I was when I was young - and I believed them. I was rejected for my college concert choir. I wasn't good enough. I would lay even odds that I'm performing more now than most of them. You cannot deny yourself your dream. I preach that to my kids.
I give what I have. I honestly don't know why people ask me to do what I do. I'm not just saying that. I don't know why they trust me. It even scares me when they think I can do a job that they ask me to do in the theater. Everything I've learned I've learned on the job - never took a course - never really became a professional performer/musician.
Here's what I do know. God, in His infinite mercy, gave me some talents to which I owe full effort. I owe effort and I owe fidelity. Fidelity to the highest level of professionalism that I can bring to that effort.
It isn't always easy. .okay, it's never easy. My nature is disinclined to be patient (for a teacher that is huge) and my nature is disinclined to suffer fools lightly. My nature is to have all my ducks in a row, make lists, have everything happen in MY time. What I've learned from performing is really, "to everything their is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven".
Let us rejoice in the complications that come our way. Oh, and take it from one who knows, when you are praying, never, I repeat, never ask God for Patience or Wisdom. Duck and cover when you do
Still, all in all, think about the excitement that brings into my life. Today, for example, I went to church at 9, sang in the choir for 1 1/2 services, went to Severn - worked from 12:30 - 2:30, took a dinner break, back at 4 and worked until 7:30, then home for a phone meeting with the stage director for Oklahoma. Tomorrow I have to copy 178 pages of score, get it bound, and back to Severn by a 2:00 o'clock downbeat, make a run chart for backstage at Maryland Hall, go to a rehearsal for Bach at 7 and then get home by 11.
I do what I do because it is FUN....as I define it. I love being involved with performing in whatever capacity I am in the performance. You see, it really isn't about me. I cannot deny that I get a kick out of it - no one does anything too long if it is painful - and to that end it does gratify me. However, it really is about creating something to give.
I don't have a lot of worldly possessions. What I have to give is my time, talent, and energy - and my brain I suppose. People keep telling me I've got one :) Sometimes I wish I hadn't listened to people who told me that performing would never make money. I let people tell me how talented I was when I was young - and I believed them. I was rejected for my college concert choir. I wasn't good enough. I would lay even odds that I'm performing more now than most of them. You cannot deny yourself your dream. I preach that to my kids.
I give what I have. I honestly don't know why people ask me to do what I do. I'm not just saying that. I don't know why they trust me. It even scares me when they think I can do a job that they ask me to do in the theater. Everything I've learned I've learned on the job - never took a course - never really became a professional performer/musician.
Here's what I do know. God, in His infinite mercy, gave me some talents to which I owe full effort. I owe effort and I owe fidelity. Fidelity to the highest level of professionalism that I can bring to that effort.
It isn't always easy. .okay, it's never easy. My nature is disinclined to be patient (for a teacher that is huge) and my nature is disinclined to suffer fools lightly. My nature is to have all my ducks in a row, make lists, have everything happen in MY time. What I've learned from performing is really, "to everything their is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven".
Let us rejoice in the complications that come our way. Oh, and take it from one who knows, when you are praying, never, I repeat, never ask God for Patience or Wisdom. Duck and cover when you do
Saturday, February 13, 2010
I Sing for a National Symphony Orchestra Conductor
. . .at least 3 times a week.
How amazing is that? How remarkable to think that I get to call this man who conducts this prestigious orchestra my friend.
How incredibly arrogant would it be to think I know better than him about anything musical. How incrediblyarrogant would it be to think his "advice" to me is to be nodded at patronizingly and my own counsel kept in the area of music.
How incredibly arrogant it is to argue with him in rehearsal about anything musical.
And yet - people do it all the time.
No one is perfect, least of all me or, for that matter, my conductor. However, when one sits in front of a master of their art- being teaching, lawyer-ing, ministering, or conducting one should assume that your grasp of the situation is probably less complete than the master in front of you. Back to the day of the "masterpiece". You are an apprentice, or at best a journeyman until you have produced your "masterpiece" in your field of endeavor. I am justifiably proud of my musical achievements - but they hold not a candle to my achievements in education. I am not now, nor will I ever, achieve "master" status in my chosen field of avocation.
What am I saying? That when we criticize or argue with a master in the field we had better be absolutely convinced of our position before we sally forth to do battle. I am often amazed at the lack of respect the chorister gives the conductor. Why is it that musicians who have never been to music school insist on arguing with someone who is successful - beyond successful in their field? Why is it that they insist on arguing with someone who has kept an arts group afloat for over 25 years? I don't get it.
What would I like to have happen? That everyone that I know would realize that they don't know everything. That they can learn if they keep their mouths shut and their opinions quiet until they have all the facts necessary to sally forth. THEN, if you are absolutely sure you know whereof you stand, then and only then should you respectfully question.
Sometimes we forget that our "friend" is also our leader/teacher/master in this area. Taht we absolutely do NOT know more - and that's okay. That our opinion, while still your opinion, is not applicable to the situation. And that if you are absolutely convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are right about how you sing, how the person next to you sings, how you feel about what is being done - then sally forth. Go, do battle. Be prepared, even then, to understand that you might lose - not because you are wrong - but because you are an apprentice.
Learn from those who know. Learn from experience. Learn from mistakes. But don't let your sense of pride keep you from learning. Sometimes you might be surprised that your carefully held convictions about how something "is" are wrong. I know I've been surprised many, many times in the last 4 years. I intend to go on being surprised and therefore increase my knowledge base by learning how to build my own masterpiece.
How amazing is that? How remarkable to think that I get to call this man who conducts this prestigious orchestra my friend.
How incredibly arrogant would it be to think I know better than him about anything musical. How incrediblyarrogant would it be to think his "advice" to me is to be nodded at patronizingly and my own counsel kept in the area of music.
How incredibly arrogant it is to argue with him in rehearsal about anything musical.
And yet - people do it all the time.
No one is perfect, least of all me or, for that matter, my conductor. However, when one sits in front of a master of their art- being teaching, lawyer-ing, ministering, or conducting one should assume that your grasp of the situation is probably less complete than the master in front of you. Back to the day of the "masterpiece". You are an apprentice, or at best a journeyman until you have produced your "masterpiece" in your field of endeavor. I am justifiably proud of my musical achievements - but they hold not a candle to my achievements in education. I am not now, nor will I ever, achieve "master" status in my chosen field of avocation.
What am I saying? That when we criticize or argue with a master in the field we had better be absolutely convinced of our position before we sally forth to do battle. I am often amazed at the lack of respect the chorister gives the conductor. Why is it that musicians who have never been to music school insist on arguing with someone who is successful - beyond successful in their field? Why is it that they insist on arguing with someone who has kept an arts group afloat for over 25 years? I don't get it.
What would I like to have happen? That everyone that I know would realize that they don't know everything. That they can learn if they keep their mouths shut and their opinions quiet until they have all the facts necessary to sally forth. THEN, if you are absolutely sure you know whereof you stand, then and only then should you respectfully question.
Sometimes we forget that our "friend" is also our leader/teacher/master in this area. Taht we absolutely do NOT know more - and that's okay. That our opinion, while still your opinion, is not applicable to the situation. And that if you are absolutely convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are right about how you sing, how the person next to you sings, how you feel about what is being done - then sally forth. Go, do battle. Be prepared, even then, to understand that you might lose - not because you are wrong - but because you are an apprentice.
Learn from those who know. Learn from experience. Learn from mistakes. But don't let your sense of pride keep you from learning. Sometimes you might be surprised that your carefully held convictions about how something "is" are wrong. I know I've been surprised many, many times in the last 4 years. I intend to go on being surprised and therefore increase my knowledge base by learning how to build my own masterpiece.
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