Today was a lot of fun. It was also exhausting.
I got up early to do a little bit of tidying around the house – mainly just running a couple loads of laundry and packing up my back pack for the long day ahead. Alas, I left poor Richard to do the bulk of the cleaning for the TGIO party (for Nanowrimo) which was being held at our house, but it wasn’t all that much to begin with so I am not feeling *too* guilty. Much.
Anyway. The day started by meeting at one of the other singers’ house, and then we all carpooled up to the Harris Performing Arts Center up in Folsom for the Voices of California holiday concert. The performance consisted of a large men’s chorus, a smaller quartet, a brass quintet, a high school choir, and us. We did the big group number warm up first, and then our sound check, and then hung out in our green room and spent a couple hours running music in preparation for the two concerts.
It was a completely packed house, which is always a nice thing to perform for, and we all felt solid and happy with every piece we performed, and best of all, as we finished our last piece, you could hear one of the audience members say, very quietly, ‘wow!’
Back to the green room for more music run-through, then back to the stage for the final number, and then we all dashed back to the green room, grabbed our bags, and zipped out to our cars to head off to the next gig.
This one was very different. Where the first was definitely a concert, with people who paid specifically to come hear people perform, the evening’s thing was mainly us providing background music. We started things off by singing on the main porch as people entered the museum (I, by the way, was not the only one sporting a knitted hat), then moved inside and tucked ourselves into a smaller room to do one piece (where we did attract a small, but very appreciative crowd of partygoers), and then finally, we all tromped up to the third level and sang two more pieces downward to the crowd.
So. Fun, but completely exhausting, both from the hours and hours of singing, and the hours and hours of standing. Thankfully all the other performances for the month are scheduled at only one a day. And also thankfully no hats will be required.
*****
Today’s nifty thing is this recording from one of our recent rehearsals, because today has pretty much been 100% all about singing for me, so it seems only fitting I should share some of it with you.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.