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I will be singing second alto with the Tapestry Singers on Saturday (11/13). If you feel like attending, it's at 7:30pm at St.John's United Methodist Church at 2140 Allandale Road (very near where it goes from Koenig to Allendale at Burnet). Tickets are ten bucks, which keeps us in music and supplies; come early and carpool (parking is not great). And, as promised, my nit-picking of all the songs we're singing. The following opinions are mine only and do not reflect the management.
This is the order we're singing them in, too. There's a smaller group that's singing a couple of songs too, so you're getting a bunch of songs at less that 67¢ apiece. What a bargain, huh?
1. "Fences"
Glurgy girl song number one. Here' we're singing in a minor key about how boundaries are evil to all the happy little children who all want to live in peace and harmony. There's even a slide-show/power-point thingy with your standard Webshots portfolio of fields of flowers, illuminated clouds, people holding babies, and other similar treacle. Not one of my favorites.
2. "In My World"
Glurgy girl song number two, very similar except expressing hope about all children being loved, no hunger, blah blah blah. Makes me want to kick a puppy. Okay, not really.
3. "The Source of the Waters"
Someone got a thesaurus and took every word listed under 'blue' and stuck it in this weird, syncopated song about how powerful and merciless the ocean is. Interestingly, the second altos don't end up singing any of them- we get to sing the main melody about the mean ol' sea. We don't get the melody that often. It does, however, include the line that seemed sort of 'duh': "The sea is the source of the waters." Otherwise it's all poetic and modren.
4. "Sky Dances"
Possibly one of the best songs I have ever had the pleasure to sing in my whole life. The imagery is strange ("Willows dance like women/Dance like snakes willows dance before the mirror") but there's something about the way it fits with the tune, and the harmonies, that damn near makes me choke up when I sing it, it's so beautiful. It's in a major key and is a great combination of lyrical and bouncy. This is one of the ones that's gotten stuck in my head for long periods of time. It's very pagan without being obviously so- the person who wrote it obviously loves nature in a joyous, celebratory way as opposed to a scolding, glaring-at-you-for-not-recycling way. If they sell a cd of the concert, I'll probably get it and stick this song on loop when I first get it home.
5. "Away from the Roll of the Sea"
This is a completely different song from "Source" about how nice the sea is, with a lot of sleepy, dreamy imagery. It's sort of a lullaby for boats. It has a lot of obscure nautical terms like 'cuddy' and 'spar'. Another of my favorites.
6. "Heart We Will Forget Him"
A nice, lyric piece that builds up to quite a froth then fades out to nothing (you don't see 'ppp' much). I like it quite a lot, though the lyrics just confuse the hell out of me. They're apparently by Emily Dickenson. Is it about Jeebus? Did someone's dad die? What the hell is going on? Sometimes I'm too literal-minded to get poetry. Give me a limerick. Though I guess limericks don't make very good choral pieces. Anyway, here are the words:
Heart, we will forget him!
You and I, tonight
You may forget the warmth he gave
I will forget the light. (repeated a few times)
When you have done, please tell me
That I may straight begin!
Haste! Lest while you're lagging
I remember him. (*confused look*)
7. "Seasons of Love"
This one's from 'Rent.' It's about how love is nice. *shrug*
8. "The Earth is Singing My Name"
This one's very obviously pagan, about how the Earth Mother speaks to us and thinks we're keen. It's a little heavy-handed with the imagery, but I like it okay aside from that.
9. "Pavane"
Oh, how I absolutely cringe when we sing this. It was originally a cello solo, transcribed to choral singing. So the whole song's lyrics are "doo", "dee" and "dah". And it's repetitive. I feel dumb singing it. But a cute girl plays the flute, so there's that.
10. "To Morning"
You know what? I don't think I've actually sung this piece. Maybe they went over it the night I stayed home when hub was sick. So I'll be sight-reading it! Fortunately, not only am I not bad at sight-reading, but when you're in a choir like this one, unlike playing a French horn in an orchestra, chances are there'll be half a dozen other people singing the exact same thing as you. It looks like a typical sacred song about how neat-o the Virgin Mary is or something. Hmm; I do remember going over this one once or twice now that I look at it. I don't remember the tune but I recall liking it, it's a rich, flowing piece.
11. "There is a Season"
Not the Byrds tune, but based on the same Bible verse about how there's a time to plant and a time to reap, a time to be born and a time to die, yadda yadda. The alto part goes really, really low in this one, which I like.
12. "The Poet Sings"
A bit glurgy, this sounds like a tribute to some girl who died of cancer or something. It sort of reminds me of "When You Wish Upon a Star" in feel. This is another one with a lot of obvious nature imagery, and has an accompanying slide-show (eye-roll). So when we're singing "A silver moon-beam lights her way, Antares is her messenger" they show a slide of the Moon, then one of the constellation of Scorpius. I think it would've been funny if someone had circled Antares and drew some arrows pointing to it, but no one asked me.
13. "This is the Day"
Ugh. Another song I dread. It's gospel. We're about 95% white. We're expected to clap like a real, not-white gospel choir in parts, and the dailies (so to speak) show us clapping like a bunch of stiff, white, Frankenstein women. I know people love gospel, and we have one big ol' woman who can sing the hell out of some gospel solos in this one- but they should have just let her sing it or let the small group sing it or something. It's all about how terrific God is, how we ought to praise him a lot and give him glory and honor, and enough already, is God's wang that small that he needs that much building up? Shit. Plus, one phrase that gets repeated a lot is "This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it." When the last word is sustained, it feels all messed up. There's no way to sing "it" as a long sustained word and have it come out sounding right, and to make it the end of the phrase is just all kinds of wrong. I would have liked "Pavane" less than this one, but this is our ending, energetic 'encore' piece and it's just embarrassing. So, blah.
Aside from thinking we're going to end with a klunker, I am really looking forward to this concert. I will be on the back row on the (*thinks for a second*) right side as you're facing the stage. There's a freaking giant girl who's in the row in front of me and standing between me and the director so I'll be hard to see unless you are on the far right (as you walk in) side of the church.
This is the order we're singing them in, too. There's a smaller group that's singing a couple of songs too, so you're getting a bunch of songs at less that 67¢ apiece. What a bargain, huh?
1. "Fences"
Glurgy girl song number one. Here' we're singing in a minor key about how boundaries are evil to all the happy little children who all want to live in peace and harmony. There's even a slide-show/power-point thingy with your standard Webshots portfolio of fields of flowers, illuminated clouds, people holding babies, and other similar treacle. Not one of my favorites.
2. "In My World"
Glurgy girl song number two, very similar except expressing hope about all children being loved, no hunger, blah blah blah. Makes me want to kick a puppy. Okay, not really.
3. "The Source of the Waters"
Someone got a thesaurus and took every word listed under 'blue' and stuck it in this weird, syncopated song about how powerful and merciless the ocean is. Interestingly, the second altos don't end up singing any of them- we get to sing the main melody about the mean ol' sea. We don't get the melody that often. It does, however, include the line that seemed sort of 'duh': "The sea is the source of the waters." Otherwise it's all poetic and modren.
4. "Sky Dances"
Possibly one of the best songs I have ever had the pleasure to sing in my whole life. The imagery is strange ("Willows dance like women/Dance like snakes willows dance before the mirror") but there's something about the way it fits with the tune, and the harmonies, that damn near makes me choke up when I sing it, it's so beautiful. It's in a major key and is a great combination of lyrical and bouncy. This is one of the ones that's gotten stuck in my head for long periods of time. It's very pagan without being obviously so- the person who wrote it obviously loves nature in a joyous, celebratory way as opposed to a scolding, glaring-at-you-for-not-recycling way. If they sell a cd of the concert, I'll probably get it and stick this song on loop when I first get it home.
5. "Away from the Roll of the Sea"
This is a completely different song from "Source" about how nice the sea is, with a lot of sleepy, dreamy imagery. It's sort of a lullaby for boats. It has a lot of obscure nautical terms like 'cuddy' and 'spar'. Another of my favorites.
6. "Heart We Will Forget Him"
A nice, lyric piece that builds up to quite a froth then fades out to nothing (you don't see 'ppp' much). I like it quite a lot, though the lyrics just confuse the hell out of me. They're apparently by Emily Dickenson. Is it about Jeebus? Did someone's dad die? What the hell is going on? Sometimes I'm too literal-minded to get poetry. Give me a limerick. Though I guess limericks don't make very good choral pieces. Anyway, here are the words:
Heart, we will forget him!
You and I, tonight
You may forget the warmth he gave
I will forget the light. (repeated a few times)
When you have done, please tell me
That I may straight begin!
Haste! Lest while you're lagging
I remember him. (*confused look*)
7. "Seasons of Love"
This one's from 'Rent.' It's about how love is nice. *shrug*
8. "The Earth is Singing My Name"
This one's very obviously pagan, about how the Earth Mother speaks to us and thinks we're keen. It's a little heavy-handed with the imagery, but I like it okay aside from that.
9. "Pavane"
Oh, how I absolutely cringe when we sing this. It was originally a cello solo, transcribed to choral singing. So the whole song's lyrics are "doo", "dee" and "dah". And it's repetitive. I feel dumb singing it. But a cute girl plays the flute, so there's that.
10. "To Morning"
You know what? I don't think I've actually sung this piece. Maybe they went over it the night I stayed home when hub was sick. So I'll be sight-reading it! Fortunately, not only am I not bad at sight-reading, but when you're in a choir like this one, unlike playing a French horn in an orchestra, chances are there'll be half a dozen other people singing the exact same thing as you. It looks like a typical sacred song about how neat-o the Virgin Mary is or something. Hmm; I do remember going over this one once or twice now that I look at it. I don't remember the tune but I recall liking it, it's a rich, flowing piece.
11. "There is a Season"
Not the Byrds tune, but based on the same Bible verse about how there's a time to plant and a time to reap, a time to be born and a time to die, yadda yadda. The alto part goes really, really low in this one, which I like.
12. "The Poet Sings"
A bit glurgy, this sounds like a tribute to some girl who died of cancer or something. It sort of reminds me of "When You Wish Upon a Star" in feel. This is another one with a lot of obvious nature imagery, and has an accompanying slide-show (eye-roll). So when we're singing "A silver moon-beam lights her way, Antares is her messenger" they show a slide of the Moon, then one of the constellation of Scorpius. I think it would've been funny if someone had circled Antares and drew some arrows pointing to it, but no one asked me.
13. "This is the Day"
Ugh. Another song I dread. It's gospel. We're about 95% white. We're expected to clap like a real, not-white gospel choir in parts, and the dailies (so to speak) show us clapping like a bunch of stiff, white, Frankenstein women. I know people love gospel, and we have one big ol' woman who can sing the hell out of some gospel solos in this one- but they should have just let her sing it or let the small group sing it or something. It's all about how terrific God is, how we ought to praise him a lot and give him glory and honor, and enough already, is God's wang that small that he needs that much building up? Shit. Plus, one phrase that gets repeated a lot is "This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it." When the last word is sustained, it feels all messed up. There's no way to sing "it" as a long sustained word and have it come out sounding right, and to make it the end of the phrase is just all kinds of wrong. I would have liked "Pavane" less than this one, but this is our ending, energetic 'encore' piece and it's just embarrassing. So, blah.
Aside from thinking we're going to end with a klunker, I am really looking forward to this concert. I will be on the back row on the (*thinks for a second*) right side as you're facing the stage. There's a freaking giant girl who's in the row in front of me and standing between me and the director so I'll be hard to see unless you are on the far right (as you walk in) side of the church.
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Date: Nov. 11th, 2004 06:38 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Nov. 12th, 2004 06:56 am (UTC)From:"I can't get behind the Gods who are all vengeful, angry, and dangerous if you don't believe in them! Why can't all these Gods just get along? I mean, they're omnipotent and omnipresent, what's the problem? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM!?"