Not About Valentine's Day

I am long overdue for a blog post, but have simply been busy and have not had much to say.

Monday it will be 12 years since that fateful Samson et Dalila duet that changed my life forever.  Two weeks ago at church, it was Transfiguration Sunday, and there was a guest minister who spoke about transfiguration.  About God taking you out of your comfort zone.  He asked if anyone had ever had an experience like that that had changed them forever.  I raised my hand.  As I said to the woman who interviewed me for Classical Singer (she didn't print this quote), when the duet was over, after the audience went wild,I knew then that I wanted that (that mélange of glorious music, sex, glamour, applause, and magic) more than anything in the world and that I would make any sacrifice to have it.

The road has been long, rocky, and filled with disappointments.  There is the exhilaration of finally, beginning sometime in my 64th year, being able to let my voice fly free the way I believe it was always meant to, counterbalanced by the knowledge that I am too old for it to matter.

But I would never go back,  Never.

And finally, this year, I barely gave a passing thought to The Mentor.  A man in his mid-fifties who has a Facebook cover photo that zeroes in on his crotch is rather pathetic, when all is said and done.  Yes, I envy that he has managed to make a life out of the arts, and I have not, but that is all.

Carmen is now approaching.  I don't work on it too often, lest it get stale.

So next up is finding, with the help of the Director of Music Ministries, an appropriate Lent solo.  For Good Friday we will be singing excerpts from the Faure Requiem.  I asked about singing the "Pie Jesu" (which I had sung before on Maundy Thursday) but this Director says that Pie Jesus are inappropriate for Holy Week.  Who knew?  As a singing Jewish/Marxist/Unitarian, my knowledge of these things is a bit spotty, but I want to educate myself.  I don't have to believe this or that to become well versed in appropriate liturgy. Church singing has become my craft.  It is what I do best, and what I can do best because my age isn't (or shouldn't be) a barrier, and neither is my lack of physical mobility.

So I have revisited "Liber Scriptus".  Now that I sing several high C sharps every day, that A flat that I was so nervous about is easy.  And the low Ds are rich and plummy, not squawky the way they used to be.  And there's the gorgeous "Lord's Prayer" by Malotte.  I think there will be some evening services during Lent that center around the Lord's Prayer.  And I would love a chance to sing the Rossini "Fac ut Portem" again.  Everything is so different now and so much easier.

This week, for the first time ever, I had to miss a big service.  My partner was rushed to the ER on Ash Wednesday.  She fell as she was letting her occupational therapist into the apartment.  The OT called 911.  They thought she had broken her pelvis.  It turned out nothing was broken but I didn't make it to the 6:30 call.  I had alerted the choir director, and as I did not have a solo, I was ok about not singing.  I was disappointed, because the piece was in 8 parts, which is when I am in my glory.  Second soprano parts are hard, musically, but they are in a better part of my range than alto parts, but because there is still another part above me, I don't have to worry as much about keeping the volume down as I do if I am singing soprano in a four part piece (which is usually vocally healthier than singing alto, and allows me to use my full range).  Now of course I worry what if my partner has an emergency when I am supposed to sing Carmen, but I just can't go there.  If God wants me to sing, I will.  And I will make a plan B, for someone to take care of any emergency my partner might have.

There is a weather alert, so we are taking a rain check on Valentine's Day.  We will have lunch out on Wednesday - or have lunch in and watch a movie on demand.

OK, so yes, sometimes I wonder what The Mentor would think if he could hear me now.