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

[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 :) :) :)