1.18

My First Choir Rehearsal since 4th Grade

Today I did something I've been trying to avoid doing ever in music school: I sang in a choir for the first time since I was ten years old. I hated choir then and swore off doing it forever, but today I actually had a pretty good time.

Lucky for me, many of my friends are in the same boat. If you're not a wind, brass, or voice primary, getting your conducted ensemble requirements is a pain in the ass. That means that many of my bassist, guitarist, and drummer friends are singing with me this semester. To my absolute delight, they're mostly tenors too! We can fuck up the parts together!

I found the whole thing pretty funny. Going to a rehearsal without my instrument made me feel totally naked and I had to read a treble clef for the first time in a year, so things felt awkward, and I laughed a lot. This annoying as fuck grad student that just transferred in decided to sit right next to me for some reason. He tried looking up at me a few times (he's very short), but I wanted nothing to do with him. He's the most try-hard singer I've encountered so far. We're just speaking through our parts during one run through of a piece so we can get our rhythms right, and this fucker insists on singing with his whole overdone vibrato instead. Every time he messed up a rhythm or a note, he would try to turn to us and say, "Sorry, guys, that was on me!" like he somehow messed us all up. I just kept turning around and looking at my friends whenever this kid did something dumb, and they were also trying not to laugh. I think he believes he's the section leader and that we're looking to him to guide us through the trenches of this 20-minute mass we're putting together. I hate to break it to him, but we might be listening to the pianist and director and the people trying not to stand out with their insane vibrato instead. 

Something that shocked me was how much of a difference warming up makes. On a good day, my lowest note is a C3, but today I found myself at a Bb 2 for the first time. I thought that was very cool! Hopefully, it continues to be fun throughout the semester. Two two-hour sessions a week is a lot of time..

I'll probably be writing shorter blurbs for a while now. Classes have me busy as fuck. See you tomorrow! -G