MTC Week #9 - Reality Check

March 3, 2014 - So Chorale practice on Tuesday night was challenging as we continued preparing for our upcoming Concert on March 21st and 22nd. It's amazing we can spend so much time on one piece fine-tuning the details until it sounds as near to perfection as I think we can get it. I'm amazed at Ryan Murphy's enthusiasm and abilities and I appreciate the things I'm learning from him.

Thurs night was a different story. I'm sad to report that this was one night I really didn't want to be at Choir School. I was already tired going into class and as soon as we started learning more about music theory and about singing 16th notes I was feeling a bit discouraged and uninterested. Discouraged because sometimes what they are teaching seems unattainable and uninterested because it didn't make sense. Just as my poor attitude was

Linda Margetts, who
gave us a pep talk

about to take over, one of the instructors who has been with the choir for over 30 years, paused for a moment and with quite a bit of passion told us all how very very blessed we were to be singing with the Choir. I took her words to heart, my attitude changed, and I worked a little harder to understand what was being taught.

One thing about music that always amazes me is the reality that certain note combinations can express a feeling or emotion in such a perfect way. Far more perfect than could be expressed in words. In fact words are often so very inadequate. It's like our spirits themselves resonate with these major and minor chords, musical phrases, and harmonies in such a way that cannot be matched by any other method of communication. Music is eternal and I don't hesitate in saying that it will be more of an integral part of our lives in the next life. We'll use it to learn, to communicate, to express, and to praise much more than any of us do now here on earth.

So Sunday was another rehearsal to prepare for the Easter Concert and we worked extensively on pieces from Handel's The Messiah. What a brilliant composer Handel was. The three we focused on were ones I had never sung before. And I quickly realized why we focused on singing 16th notes on Thursday! These pieces were full of them! I give you a sampling below:

You can see the bass part in red and all of those wonderful 16th notes that we have to sing at a very quick tempo. Take a listen here (only 90 sec). Listen for those 16th note runs (you can hear the basses well at around the 30 sec mark). Definitely a work out for the diaphragm!

That's about it for the week. Until next time, God be with you.