I love music. Love, love, love it. That doesn't mean I know it particularly well, however. But I love it. Love listening to it. Love the variety of it. Love musicals. Love watching people perform.
I can read it fairly well. I used to play the flute. I was in a variety of low-level choirs in college and afterwards, in various churches. Now, I'm learning piano and singing in yet another church choir.
But this ain't your grandma's choir. If it were, I wouldn't bother. Been there, done that.
There's no reason for my readers (all four of them!) to believe me, but the caliber of the choir I sing in now is impressively high. I'm standing beside people with years of classical training, people who've performed in dozens of operas, won national competitions, been written up in the NYT as "one of the most promising tenors of our generation," performed with Zubin Mehta, performed in NYC, LA, Chicago; teach voice. It's a thrill to work with them. And it means I've learned a whole lot this year. Their presence in our choir brings all of us up to an entirely atypical level for a church choir. For me, the learning curve has been steep!
This morning, we performed all of Haydn's Creation Mass -- 50+ choir members, 19 musicians, both services. Amazing experience. Lots of work. Lots of joy.
About Me
- Elaine
- My interests include veganism and vegetarianism, health, ethics, politics and culture, media, and the environment. I have three kids; I teach college part-time, study piano and attempt to garden. I knit. I blog on just about anything, but many posts are related to my somewhat pathetic quest to eat better, be more mindful of the environment, and be a more responsible news consumer. Sometimes I write about parenting, but, like so many Mommy bloggers, my kids have recently told me not to. :) Thanks for reading.
I love the fact that we are a repertory choir. This is fancy speak for having a set portfolio of pieces that we perform. The Creation Mass is the first repeat for Janet and I. I'm guessing that each time, I'll improve incrementally and hopefully nail a few more notes than the time before. It's definitely a wonderful experience. At the same time, I also like having the summers off. :-)
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