Hard Work Pays Off

Last night was, for me, a small triumph.  The choir picked up the Handel for the first time, and as there were three women's parts, the choir director started out assigning the top alto part (which has a range of about five notes - it's not low, but it doesn't go anywhere) to second sopranos, but then noticed that there would only be one woman left to sing the top part.  She is a trained singer (mostly musical theater) and sings with a nice line, as well as having a solid high B flat.  So I offered to sing it (does this mean last night?  does this mean for real?) because I had learned it at home.  It is not high.  It has a lot of melismatic singing going back and forth to a G which is in solid operatic mezzo territory.  The phrases require top-notch breath control, but there are plenty of instrumental interludes to recoup.

Because it was a new piece of music, it was not riddled with bad habits (like the soprano line in the "Halleluia Chorus").  This type of singing is something I do well.  In the past I would have been terrified that I was going to sound too loud, so I would have sung with a raised larynx in a "spread" position, which would have sound strident, not to mention  left me terrified that I was not going to make it.  This time I just sang with my real voice: dark vowels, larynx down, palate up, mouth not too wide open, to "mute" some of the volume.  I did not get tired.  I can easily sing this on a Sunday morning after a few runthroughs (just on "oo" if necessary) and not get tired.

I mean if some "real" sopranos show up, this may have been a flash in the pan.  There is a pair of twins with trained light lyric soprano voices (one used to sing professionally) who show up sometimes on Sundays to sing music that they know, so if they can "help out" I may be bumped downstairs, but the point is I proved (to myself mostly) that I could sing this without being nervous or getting tired.

It's too bad that even the middle women's part is so boring, though.  I have sung Bach alto parts, even ones that are really too low to showcase my voice, which I have liked, because at least there was something to sink my teeth into, mostly long melismatic phrases requiring good breath control.  But the lower women's parts in this piece really have nothing to offer.  The  issue is not only the limited range, but the fact that the lower parts don't require singing for as long as the higher part, so it's all very "utilitarian".

Well, if nothing else, this has lit a fire under me to learn the solo version of Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium".  It has a number of Gs.  And as I will be scheduling this with the Director of Music Ministries, who seems to have more eclectic taste in vocal colors than the choir director, it may fly.  But it would have to be late in the season, ideally on  Mary Sunday (which has a number of names).  Otherwise I will look at "Bereite Dich Zion".  That's an "alto" piece, but it's not low and it is showy, as most Bach solos are. Cuz, yanno?  I'm a showy kind of gal.