Wow, you guys! Two blog posts in less than one week! Don't get used to it! :D This special and unexpected Tuesday night update is brought to you by how truly awesome music is. I've been saying - for what, months now? - that a musical update post is coming and here. it. is: I think it's safe to say that pretty much everyone back home knows about my relationship with music (singing, specifically). Anyone reading this on the British side of the pond, though you've never seen me perform, have surely experienced the frequency and fervor with which I discuss and reminisce on my musical experiences. To all people who know me from anywhere, with very, very few exceptions, if you've ever seen me cry, music was the culprit.
So first of all, what we're really all wondering: what musical things has Michelle been up to?!? Well, let me tell you! :D
(this post is going to be so full of overjoyed emoticons)
Remember when I mentioned that I had a job at a bar to pay for singing lessons? Yeah, that was not good times for a variety of reasons including loud music, late shifts, weird management, and unimpressively drunk clientele. But I have a new "job" now (since April)! The cathedral choir has a scholar programme set up for students (regardless of area of study) that I was invited to auditon for, and now I get paid to sing at church. (ideal!) It has progressed to cantoring and occassional solo work but for the most part, I just show up an hour early on Sunday mornings for rehearsal, sing with the choir, and get checks a few times a semester. Infinitely better than coming home, soaked with cheap vodka, at 4am with my ears ringing.
One choir a week is obviously not enough, so I did lots of research over the summer months for some performance groups I could get involved with, and ended up in 3 different ones for trial runs this fall. One of them was a community-recruited choir assembled to debut a new piece at the Sound Festival. That... well. That was a nice exercise in keeping your word and following through on commitments that you really do not in any way want to stick with. It was... modern. We'll call it that and be charitable. There were more weird breathing methods than actual singing, the actual singing was less than harmonious and, snobby as I feel saying this... the quality of musicianship among performers was... not excellent. While at the performance, I learned that I have a very low tolerance for the pretentious, over-intellectualised consumption of modern performance art. The people in attendance were the same kind of people that would appreciate the tiny drain in the middle of an empty wall which I once saw on exhibit in an art museum. That is not a world that I understand.
Weird times, man.
But don't worry there's much better news than that! I've stuck with the other 2 choirs, at least for now, and they've proven quite fruitful. They are both unauditioned, which has been a bit of an adjustment. That being said they are both, honestly, impressively good for unauditioned choirs. I just miss the high rehearsal caliber of trained musicians.
My Tuesday night rehearsals are gearing up for a performance of Mozart's Vespers and, much more importantly, Requium. Primary reason for joining = oh my goodness go to youtube and just listen to his Lacrimosa right now. Absolutely gorgeous.
The other choir is an opera chorus based at what I can best describe as Aberdeenshire's version of Stan Hywet (for my Akronites). This, unfortunately, means that it's in the middle of Aberdeenshire, but they added Aberdeen rehearsals for the last performance to flesh out numbers a bit. So I got to sing Beethoven's Mass in C Major with a full orchestra and chorus in front of a prince. That was the day I learned that a: I do not know the words to God Save the Queen, and b: I have a completely unwarranted compulsion to laugh in the presense of royalty. I think it's related to the reflex some people (me) have to smile in really tense, inappropriate situations. Don't worry though, I surpressed it and just pretended I wasn't trying to sing My Country Tis of Thee until he sat down and everyone resumed their normal conversations.
But in short, they've been incredibly welcoming, generous, and accommodating for the poor American struggling with not having a car, and I'm now finding my way out there weekly to rehearse for the Christmas carols concert in December :D I've gotten the opportunity to sing in some smaller ensembles there as well with more difficult (because Mozart and Beethoven aren't difficult, hahhh) pieces that are quite reminiscent of my chamber choir days. Yay :)
In fairness, I should also include the fact that I unsuccessfully auditioned for a fairly competitive chorus spot in a local production of Legally Blonde. Rough times, yes. Over it... mostly yes. In retrospect it was probably a commitment I shouldn't have made anyways so it's quite likely for the best. However I will be working much harder on my belt/crossover technique. (Once I really settle back with voice lessons... that department has been a bit sporatic due to scheduling and availability.)
On a less-organised level, a couple classmates and I had a Saturday night jam session (first of many) that was SO good. I cannot figure out (99% sure it's not supported on this site) how to embed an audio file into an individual post so there is now, I guess, a player on the main page, but if you go to the panel on the right and find the big, all-caps "TUNES!", you'll be able to listen to a hasty recording of our very unrehearsed run through Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love". Ya know... in case you missed my voice or anything ;)
Okay so that's the low-down on what I've been up to musically. You can stop here and be happy with that, or read on for what will hopefully be a fairly short exposition of how music fuels my soul.
The title of this post is the first half a quote attributed to Victor Hugo. In its completion, it reads:
"Music expresses that which cannot be said, and on which it is impossible to be silent."
I know there's tons of similar quotes but because it's Victor Hugo, that is my favorite one.
Okay, trying to keep it short. Quick musings.
Guys, music is incredible. Honestly. Participating in vocal performances, whether solo, choral, or staged, has been beyond formative in my life. I owe so much of who I currently am, and a huge part of my theology/faith, to the role that music has played in my life. I know there's a lot of the world left for me to see/experience, but I've yet to find anything so perfectly fulfilling, transcendant, and astonishingly beautiful as the moment where a choral ensemble becomes one ethereal voice, mixing notes to create expressions that I am absolutely convinced cannot be the product of a Godless world.
Even in rehearsal tonight, we picked up a lovely French arrangement of "Ubi Caritas" to take a break from dear Wolfgang, and it was just striking. I don't know how to explain it to someone who hasn't experienced it, but I know that (especially after 6+ months without it) I don't want to ever have a life without that in it. Choral music especially has this incredibly powerful effect of making you no longer an individual voice, but simply a tributary to this greater masterpiece. And once that process is underway, your individual stresses and concerns cease to exist... you're a living instrument in a swelling symphony. This effect has been especially helpful for the much more emotional Michelle who has been living in Scotland lately.
I can keep throwing adjectives all day but honestly I'll never be able to do the experience justice so I'm just going to stop trying and spare you the reading. Basically, what Victor Hugo said. It's an incredibly powerful art form and I'm luckier than I will ever fully comprehend to be able to participate on the level that I have. Additional benefits of music: Take the Beethoven or Mozart for example. How else can you participate that perfectly in a piece of history? You're literally bringing the past to life, and filling a hall with the exact sounds that people were creating and enjoying hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Is that not the coolest? (I obviously think so.) Close your eyes next time you're at a symphony (choral or orchestral), and go back in time. It's awesome.
Alright guys. I think that's most of what I was overflowing with on my bike ride back from rehearsal tonight. I'm going to listen to Malone Chorale 2013 recordings until my heart explodes, which probably won't take long. More later. Go Cavs! Goodnight :)
This picture is neither current nor Scottish (Venice 2013) but it's the 4/5-year seniors at at our last Malone concert ever and it brings back all the feels <3. These are the people I was with when I first came to Europe in 2010 and if it weren't for that tour, I'd never be here now. I'm not kidding guys: music is why I am who/where/what I am.
