The rehearsal last night was exactly as I had hoped it would be. Well that's not entirely true, I had hoped the Tufts Chorale would stand up and applaud me, shouting "brava!" at my brilliant interpretation of the Randall Thompson Alleluia. That didn't happen. But Everything that was supposed to happen at your first big rehearsal with your peers (this wasn't the BCC, these were the big kids). I fumbled a little searching for good measures to pick up and re-work parts. I completely (but unintentionally) ignored the sopranos during their melismas and that made them feel unloved (actually, I feel sopranos should really be ignored at all times) I made a few jokes that some people laughed at but most didn't, and I did a little too much talking about and describing of the things I wanted to get out of certain passages rather than just sacking up and doing a better job of communicating what I wanted with my gestures. I also have this thing where I forget to subdivide my beats when the tempo slows and then I get anxious because the sound gets muddy. But quite seriously, there were some good successes, the least of which is that Andy didn't seem totally and completely appalled at his lack of judgement in letting me get up there. He actually seemed pleased, even impressed that I was able to remember some of the subtleties I assured him I would forget in my panic of that many eyes on me. And I didn't. I carried the sopranos through their crescendo when the rest of the choir diminuendos, I weighted my 1 and 3 beats appropriately during the syncopation (although I haven't figured out how to stop my hand in mid-air yet, it just keeps moving so it looks like the beat is elongated) and I dealt with consecutive measures of 1-cut-prep/breathe-4 and 1-cut-formatta rest.....-prep/breathe- 4. It's hard to make your hands do these things. Imagine your right hand moving up and down and your left hand side to side at the same speed. Then double the speed of your left hand. Then beat 3 with your right hand. And there you go. That's why I was nervous. All in all thought it went really well. I'm actually grateful I've had the experience with the unruly concert choir because it made this experience far easier. No one was flirting with anybody while I was talking, nobody was vying for each other's attention, and the chorale was entirely committed to the music. It was really really nice though, to see a few familiar faces out there cheering me on, people to whom I had admitted I was nervous, or people who knew that this was what I'd wanted to do since I came to Tufts. So. That was a joy.
Speaking of the Concert Choir and the BCC, there's been a little delay in the switch, and it turns out I'll have them again for one last class before I go over to the littler kids at Villa Victoria. I'm half-inclined to guilt them, explaining that I'm leaving because they were such bastards, and then they'd apologize and grovel and buy me presents and Anthony will let me stay with them and the kids will all thank me at their college graduation dinners. That's one half. The other half is to begin to address their musical weak spots and not say a word about it. Which I think I'll do.
I'm at MEDA right now, editing my personal story that I will then be presenting for high schools and parent groups and ED seminars and the like...it'll probably end up shamelessly posted here...hm, maybe not... After MEDA, I'm off to the restaurant for the dinner shift, and then home. Which is lonely. But at least it's home.
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