Today I had me last concert for the year. Now I can finally relax. It was a great xmas concert and the overall impression was awesome. Even on a personal level I'm a slightly satisfied with my contribution, which is pretty unusual.
Something that struck me was that there is a great difference between knowing the song in your spinal cord and being able to sing it perfectly from the note file. It is a small difference but the implications are enormous. It is very easy to forget this.
Now over to a more delicate subject that is more or less taboo but is indeed good spill out.
I cannot admit that I practice singing (regularly), since I almost never do it unless I will sing a solo. (Oops there, I said it). Somehow I manage mostly pretty well anyways (this however doesn't mean it is ok to do so). Everyone is different of course but I'm pretty weak textually. I can however migrate a song much closer to the backbone simply by sitting down for a while with it and recite every measure of text until I know it at least pretty ok. I realized that it is more often than not that little effort is needed to make a song sit well. I find it rare that you actually need to put in several hours of work every week, although it is not a bad thing if you have the temporal resources to accomplish this.
On a side note, sitting alone with your piano or guitar or whatever at the same time as you sing a song will immensely help you nail the melody if this happen to be your weakness.
As of tonight, this was one of those moments when I truly felt that most people (me including) had it in their backbones and you get a different kind of interaction with the conductor (at least what I have noticed in other choirs). At least he will smile more at you! The choir resonates, and don't sink as easily (although this choir really is tonally very stable so I noticed very little difference). You can feel the beautiful overtones and it feels so sweet and lovely. When you get into this state you really feel the now and you can truly live in the moment, for it is in the moment that we actually create music, it is not when our minds are occupied with what the score says or what happens around you. It is you, your mates and your conductor. Nothing else exists. Together you live in harmony (pun intended).
Note to self (mostly):
If you don't do your homework well enough too often, then I think it could be easy to forget how this feels. These moments are exactly the reason why I still stay active in the choiring. This is what drives me. If you know what I'm talking about, then please use this reason as your primary motivation to study your repertoire. The social part is important too but without the music making it is just a social club. Social pressure helps too, but it is not good enough I think. I hope this is not too much of a slap in your face, but... Rely on yourself as much as you can. Do your homework until you are satisfied and then just enjoy the moment!
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