Sunday, April 9, 2006, 06:43 PM - Church Stuff
Everyone at church, myself included, really likes the Choir Master. She's a classically trained musician with a masters' degree fromthe Peabody Institute. She was also a child prodigy who learned how to play the piano at age 5. She's of good, solid German stock, which naturally makes her a perfectionist. Most of the time, that is a GOOD thing. Around the Christian High Holy Days, it can be a real drag.
the problem comes from the fact that she sort of forgets that we are an amative choir that are volunteers and have no formal music training. With that in consideration, we are probably the BEST unpaid/ non-professional choir in Maryland. A big part of our success is her leadership. That said, she has the habit of assigning music for us to learn that is beyond our skill level to play. We practice and practice and practice. Then the Choir Master starts getting edgy and nervous when it starts looking like we won't get the piece correct before we have to play it for REAL.
Today was Palm Sunday, and I had three pieces of music thatwere pretty much beyond our skill level. One was a handbell piece in which she spliced two really difficult compositions together to makeone excruciatingly difficult assignment. My part included ELEVEN bells! Then there were two vocal pieces - one in Greek and one in Latin. The tenor set was above the staff about 75 % of the time, and I felt like I had been strangled by the time we finished singing.
The GOOD news is that we pulled it off somehow at the last minute. The only time we got it right was when we had to do it for real. This means that we didn't look like idiots. The bad news is that the Choir Master will up the ante even higher when Christmas comes around! Aieeee!
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( 2.9 / 1016 )Wednesday, April 5, 2006, 06:07 PM - Church Stuff
Tuesday evenings are always for because I have handbill choir practice at church. The bells at the church are really cool: Malmark brass, with five octaves (ranks 3-7). I usually ring the bass bells (octaves 3 and 4). These are REALLY big bells. The biggest, C3, actually takes two hands to ring.
Since we have Palm Sunday and Easter on the next two Sundays, we've been doing a lot of practicing. I have one assignment that involves six bells!
A guess we'll find out soon if the practice sessions will come to fruition!
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