This is what it sounds like when 200+ people sing with their eyes closed

[annafugazzi]

Don't suppose this is gonna mean anything to anybody but me, but hey, it's my lj :)

Anybody remember about a million-jillion years ago I wrote an H/D story where Draco is a choir director in Ireland? I did this thing where I linked to a bunch of choir songs that Draco's choir sings. Most of them were songs that my own choir sang, and some of the files I linked to were recordings of my own choir.

Well, tomorrow is my choir's tenth anniversary concert (and may I say it both pleases and disturbs me deeply to say that I'm a founding member of a choir that is ten freaking years old) and we're singing a bunch of the songs that were mentioned in the fic. And it made me all nostalgic for the fic itself. As well as totally grateful to be part of a choir that sings such beautiful stuff.

Our men's section is currently tiny and... um... not very good. In part because they're so few. But the rest of the choir is sounding better than ever. Our concert tomorrow is going to be gorgeous.

::happy sigh::

In case anybody's interested, here's some links:

• Volunteers (Volunteers Music Page)
  
• Ember to Ember (Ember to Ember Music Page)
  
  And recordings of the Volunteers/Ember to Ember songs we're singing tomorrow:
  
  
• All Too Soon
  
• Pie Jesu (recording of my choir)
  
• Al Schlosha D'Varim
  
  
• Here's another gorgeous song we're singing tomorrow (not from the fics), and this is my choir, singing it:
  Love, Deliver Me

Here's a bonus thing we're not going to be singing tomorrow, but was in the Ember to Ember soundtrack (I think Draco sang it as a lullaby? Possibly?) and totally blew me away when we sang it at our last concert. This is what it sounds like when 200+ people sing with their eyes closed.

I'm serious. We were doing the final rehearsal before the performance, at least seven choirs including a children's choir and a francophone high school choir, and the guest conductor (Stephen Hatfield, OMG) had us all close our eyes as an exercise in "truly listening to each other and blending your voices." It went well, we all opened our eyes, said, "Cool!" and then the conductor said, "You know what? That was so good I think I'm gonna have you do it like that for the concert. You don't need me."

We honestly thought he was joking.

Close-up starting at 54 seconds. I'm guessing the one tenor whose eyes are open was from the high school and didn't get the instructions translated to him, poor guy. I wonder if he spent the whole song waiting for the conductor to come back.

Comments

[birdsofshore]

I love that fic and I was thinking about it this week as I wrote a fic where Draco dreams in fanfics, and I had him dream of himself as a choir director at one point :D

The video is lovely! What a beautiful idea for the conductor to try. Hope the concert tomorrow is a great success.

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

I love that fic and I was thinking about it this week as I wrote a fic where Draco dreams in fanfics, and I had him dream of himself as a choir director at one point :D
Eeeee!! Draco dreams in fanfics?! That's brilliant!? Have you posted it anywhere?

The video is lovely! What a beautiful idea for the conductor to try. Hope the concert tomorrow is a great success.
Thanks :) :)

We seriously thought he was nuts. Which, to be fair, he is. But in a glorious way!

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

Eeeee!! Draco dreams in fanfics?! That's brilliant!? Have you posted it anywhere?
Never mind, I went and looked. EEEEEEEE!!!!

That was seriously lovely. <3 <3 <3

[birdsofshore]

Ah, I see you found the dream fic! :D

Being gloriously nuts is what I aspire to, mostly.

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

ahhhh cooolllll! <3 I love choirs and choir music, and I love those fics. Maybe I'll reread this weekend. If I finish finals...

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

Hee! Good luck on your finals :) :) :)

[songquake.livejournal.com]

You got to sing for Stephen Hatfield?? *is incredibly jealous*

Thanks for posting the links again! I'd borked the computer I'd downloaded the files to, and am delighted to get the recordings of "All Too Soon" and "Tiny Fish" again.

*hugs*

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

You got to sing for Stephen Hatfield?? *is incredibly jealous*
I DID!! Not only that, I got to sing an entire concert of Stephen Hatfield music, conducted by Stephen Hatfield, capping off a week that included two workshops run by Stephen Hatfield. It's definitely a high point in my choral life :) :) :)

The guy is pretty certifiable. Brings the "eccentric" to "eccentric genius" like whoa. Talks a mile a minute, spoke French often - and very badly - made totally inappropriate jokes in a church, screamed at the sopranos that he was going to stop the entire concert if we didn't get this line right, unexpectedly showed us a tattoo on his back to illustrate a point he was making, pranced around the stage like a demented thing during the concert... and it was all awesome. All the choirs walked away from the concert on a total high. Except for a few of the sopranos in our choir, who were a little miffed about the screaming and unable to understand that he was joking. Oh, and the child he crashed into on stage.

Thanks for posting the links again! I'd borked the computer I'd downloaded the files to, and am delighted to get the recordings of "All Too Soon" and "Tiny Fish" again.
You're very welcome! I made myself a CD of the playlist a while ago... hm... sure I've got it around here somewhere...

*hugs back*

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

OK, that sounded weirder than it needed to, so I should clarify that

• He spoke French because one of the choirs was francophone and part of the theme of the concert was anglo-franco friendship. He was being inclusive. Just... badly ;)
  
  
• One of the choirs was a choir begun by the LGBT community, so he made a bunch of jokes that were also inclusive. Incidentally, the guy is very stereotypically gay-acting, but has been married three times, so maybe he's the reason gaydar isn't 100% accurate. Or maybe he's been married three times because he hadn't realized he needs to marry a guy. In either case, he was very gay-positive. Including the jokes, the only one of which I can remember being, "What kind of nails are used in a lesbian's bed?" "None, it's all tongue-in-groove."
  
  ::groan::
  
  Also, we were rehearsing in a chapel at the time.
  
  There's a culture in Central America that regularly tells jokes in church, because they figure God probably has a pretty good sense of humour. Maybe Hatfield comes from that culture :D :D :D
  
  
• The line was the last line in a song, the sopranos were messing it up, and he had tried everything else to get us to do it right. And he was semi-joking. Some of them still got huffy about it afterwards. Suck it up, I wanted to say to them.
  
  
• The tattoo was a large pair of wings. He got it done after finishing this one song that meant a great deal to him, and took a lot out of him, which contained the lines, "Love you are so many things/A serpent's tongue, and an angel's wing."
  
  It was lovely. Just, you know, it's a little startling, when a stranger all of a sudden flips his t-shirt up over his head and shows you his naked back. I also did not really need to know that Stephen Hatfield had nipple rings. Ulp.
  
  
• The prancing was something else. He's very flamboyant. At the end, during the applause, at one point he leaped - and, um, crashed into a small child. Oops.

Here's the song with the angel's wing bit, and the first sopranos last line (which we didn't mess up!), and him... um, being flamboyant. No leaping,though.

Also, please excuse our men. They are few, and mostly elderly. They do their best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRbfnS8nBV4

[songquake.livejournal.com]

I totally cracked up--and loudly--reading this comment, especially the bit about Stephen Hatfield's tattoo and nipple rings!

I think a lot of singers/conductors who work with secular groups in churches/synagogues forget that some people consider the spaces sacred in and of themselves. I think my current director doesn't forget that, which makes our rehearsals a bit more...tame than I would expect of a chorus of 20-and 30-somethings with a huge gay contingent (including aforementioned director).

Still, I agree that God must have a sense of humor!

How about this quote (from my college choir director): "God loves us just as much when we sing in tune as when we sing out of tune."

Thanks for sharing the YT link! Lovely!

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

Yeah for myself I don't care about the sacredness much, as I'm an atheist, but I did kinda look around and hope that if God did exist, he liked the jokes :D :D :D


How about this quote (from my college choir director): "God loves us just as much when we sing in tune as when we sing out of tune."
Aaaawww :) :) :)

[piratesmile331.livejournal.com]

Do you really think people don't remember those fics? SILLY GIRL. They are classics. Thanks for all of the links for the music again. Your choir is absolutely beautiful!

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

Aaaww. Thank you!!

I guess it doesn't occur to me that anybody remembers anything I've written other than Bond :D :D :D

[songquake.livejournal.com]

No, the Volunteers-verse is definitely what I think of when I think of you :) Classics indeed!

(Also the HPGeorgecentric fic of 2010, which is one of the ouchiest things I think I've ever read.)

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

Really? That's very cool!!


Ah yes, the GeorgeWasSad fic. That was somewhat draining to write.

[calmnla.livejournal.com]

Classics indeed! I can't tell you how often I listened to those songs but you wrote the stories during a particularly um challenging time in my life. I am forever marked by the beauty that overrode all the rest of the BS, in your stories and in the music, and therefore in my challenges.

When I was 10 I wanted nothing more than to be a boy so I could join the Vienna Boys Choir. Then I found I could try out for the church choir starting at 12. Hallelujah!

Some of those singers were not BORN when you started that choir :-)

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

♥♥♥

I'm so glad the stories helped. And... damn. I've had difficult times where part of what made things a little brighter was a particular book or series, and I know what it meant to me. Knowing my stories were there for you is... wow. Can't come up with anything more eloquent to say than that, unfortunately...


Also: yay for church choirs!!

[nenne.livejournal.com]

Good luck! Have fun. :)

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

I did!

[notearchiver.livejournal.com]

I remember being so excited whenever you updated those fics! I think everyone reading H/D during that period remembers the fics. It's too bad that some of the newcomers to fandom don't know about them...

Also, the video is so cute, especially with all the young voices making the song seem so innocent.