Church choir
Apr. 2nd, 2010 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottahillI'm sitting in Barry Bagels, Miriam asleep in the stroller, and while I suppose I could do work (I have oh so much grading to catch up on), I feel like talking about myself instead. :)
I don't remember what I've said about my church, but I've been going to St Andrew's Episcopal since the summer, and as my Lenten discipline I started getting up an hour early on Sunday to sing with the choir. It's been very good. The choir has about a dozen people, and it's surprisingly good for such a relatively small congregation-- we can pull off 4-part harmony with little preparation, and so rehearsal isn't such a slog of one-note-at-a-time which is so maddening. I don't always agree with the director, but I found out early that I am not unique in this, and that helps tremendously; in the past, when I hated something a director did I would feel like it was me against everyone else, which made me stubborn and cranky. If I know other people are unhappy sometimes too, then I can relax a bit, and occasionally even defend the director (due to my contrarian nature). It also helps that the director has sought my friendship, which is flattering, and which keeps me from actually hating anything he does.
(This may sound extreme, but I have a lot of strongly negative experiences with choirs in the past, particularly post-Bethans, so not hating my director is a big Biden deal.)
I am trying not to be too critical or vocal with my suggestions during rehearsal, so that I don't get on people's nerves, but I have been my usual boisterous self, stupid jokes and all, and while I'm always afraid that I will irritate someone, the sense I get from the members is that I am appreciated, and that is a very nice thing to be.
Of course, having a good voice can earn you forgiveness for a lot of things in a church choir, and I've gotten a steady stream of compliments on that score. I've finally gotten some opportunities to do a couple of solos this week for Holy Week, which is fun: I really love singing solo and wish I had more opportunity to do so, but it's hard to figure out how to "land such gigs", harder than simply joining a choir. Someone said to me, "Why aren't you singing professionally", and though I came back with the line "My mama told me not to go into show business", what I really should have said was "I'd love to; got any ideas?" Not that I'd want to make it my career, or compete against real pros, but I'd be pleased to pick up the occasional gig.
What stops me, at least in part, is false modesty. I could put a notice in our church newsletter saying "I'm available to sing for weddings, etc"; I could go to local churches (particularly small ones) and offer my services; I could put something on eBay. But that would require me to say, "Hey everybody, I sing good and I think you might want to pay money to hear me sing." Never mind that I know that I have a good voice, and that I have people telling me so every week, I'm still afraid of admitting to it. :) Even now, writing this here, I'm sure one of you is reading this and saying "Well isn't he full of himself, today." Only this is my blog and talking about myself is the whole point, so there. :P
Well, the girl's awake, and will be wanting her bagel. Au revoir.
I don't remember what I've said about my church, but I've been going to St Andrew's Episcopal since the summer, and as my Lenten discipline I started getting up an hour early on Sunday to sing with the choir. It's been very good. The choir has about a dozen people, and it's surprisingly good for such a relatively small congregation-- we can pull off 4-part harmony with little preparation, and so rehearsal isn't such a slog of one-note-at-a-time which is so maddening. I don't always agree with the director, but I found out early that I am not unique in this, and that helps tremendously; in the past, when I hated something a director did I would feel like it was me against everyone else, which made me stubborn and cranky. If I know other people are unhappy sometimes too, then I can relax a bit, and occasionally even defend the director (due to my contrarian nature). It also helps that the director has sought my friendship, which is flattering, and which keeps me from actually hating anything he does.
(This may sound extreme, but I have a lot of strongly negative experiences with choirs in the past, particularly post-Bethans, so not hating my director is a big Biden deal.)
I am trying not to be too critical or vocal with my suggestions during rehearsal, so that I don't get on people's nerves, but I have been my usual boisterous self, stupid jokes and all, and while I'm always afraid that I will irritate someone, the sense I get from the members is that I am appreciated, and that is a very nice thing to be.
Of course, having a good voice can earn you forgiveness for a lot of things in a church choir, and I've gotten a steady stream of compliments on that score. I've finally gotten some opportunities to do a couple of solos this week for Holy Week, which is fun: I really love singing solo and wish I had more opportunity to do so, but it's hard to figure out how to "land such gigs", harder than simply joining a choir. Someone said to me, "Why aren't you singing professionally", and though I came back with the line "My mama told me not to go into show business", what I really should have said was "I'd love to; got any ideas?" Not that I'd want to make it my career, or compete against real pros, but I'd be pleased to pick up the occasional gig.
What stops me, at least in part, is false modesty. I could put a notice in our church newsletter saying "I'm available to sing for weddings, etc"; I could go to local churches (particularly small ones) and offer my services; I could put something on eBay. But that would require me to say, "Hey everybody, I sing good and I think you might want to pay money to hear me sing." Never mind that I know that I have a good voice, and that I have people telling me so every week, I'm still afraid of admitting to it. :) Even now, writing this here, I'm sure one of you is reading this and saying "Well isn't he full of himself, today." Only this is my blog and talking about myself is the whole point, so there. :P
Well, the girl's awake, and will be wanting her bagel. Au revoir.
