Choir season has started and I can really see my new technique in action. We are singing a Handel piece for Reformation Sunday and I really hope that I can get to sing the soprano part, as I can sing it really well (I don't know if that would have been the case even two years ago). It only goes up to a G and it moves around. On the other hand, there is a top alto part that may be underpowered (or maybe not - it doesn't go very high so they should be able to pull some of the seconds). I will sing it if asked, but would rather not (I am always happy to sing top alto parts that are peppered with Es and Fs but that's another story.)
Our star violinist has moved to another job at another church. Maybe Little Miss will go with him? I know when I heard choral singing there, the choir director's wife sang all the soprano solos, and he is still there, so probably she is so you never know. On the other hand, Little Miss will probably be spending less time in our neck of the woods.
I am continuing to work on Carmen. The A flats that seemed so high a year and a half ago, that sounded great, but took so much work, are now effortless. The B in the Sequidilla is manageable. I usually have been vocalizing up to a high C sharp but yesterday I had trouble, probably because I had had a cold for two days. As a result of all the toddlers at the church (this was what my doctor told me) I have started getting colds of the sort I got as a child but never as an adult: intractable stopped up nose (does not respond to the Neti pot and in fact using it is dangerous) and runny snot. Fortunately they don't last more than two days.
I still don't have a definite date, but my voice teacher has gone back to singing tenor and wants to sing Don Jose. I am staying on top of trying to get everything in order for this and my birthday concert.
Lastly (which comes to the title of this post), thanks to a nudge from a woman in the choir who is also a playwright, I have finished the draft of my Cinderella play. I don't want to say too much, as it is not copyrighted, but at the end of the final scene, suddenly my protagonist just blurted out something that explains my continued involvement with the Lutheran church, which seems strange to people considering that my Unitarian blend of Christianity, Judaism, and Paganism isn't going anyplace soon. High church Christian houses of worship have the best theater. It's that simple. I'm playing a role and the choir robe with the cross on it is my costume. And what glorious music!! Unitarians just don't know how to do that, even with a different theology as a starting point. The women's Moon Circles that I go to are good theater, but I couldn't make them my only spiritual nourishment because there's no music, only chanting.
Well, for what it's worth, here's what Cynthia said:
You can make theater
anywhere, now that I think of it. That’s
why I like singing in church services. I
am not religious .... but if you want to hear glorious music and
colorful stories while sitting in a magnificent historic building, a church
service is the best bargain around. And when I sing (in a choir robe, or in a
black dress) as a soloist or choir member, the issue isn’t what I believe, but what the people listening believe; that I am bringing to
life something profoundly moving and meaningful to them, just like being in a play or opera, only on a smaller scale,
and without having to be in a decidedly un-spiritual
and snarky cutthroat environment (you should hear some of my former
conservatory classmates talk about other people; you wouldn’t believe it).
I think this will stand me in good stead for a long time. And I have made some wonderful friends.
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