Incredibly busy weekend...
Dec. 8th, 2008 08:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zalena* Finished book & book review - phew. I will stand by the assessment that it was one of the best and most difficult books I read this year. My review is positive, but I don't know that I will be recommending it to individual friends.
* St. Nicholas Party - yay!
* Christmas Cookies - and assorted arguments about what constitutes a Xmas Cookie. I am of the opinion that plebian cookies made the rest of the year do not belong. (Aka oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip. rice crispy treats) They at very least need to be gussied up for the season. I don't know why I feel this day, I just do. I think it's from a lack of ethnic traditions (or any tradition at all) in my family makes me grasp what little I remember from my gma, who was big on Xmas, albeit in a somewhat Southern way. (Cookies that count: bourbon balls, pecan tarts, and if you like it and/or can make it: divinity and fudge. I've also add cosmic cookies: shortbread stars, and walnut crescents, as my own contributions to the season.)
* Renaissance Project Concert - I am actively looking for a new place to sing. This 24-piece group is a little on the large side, and the director tends towards high and late British renaissance. But I like the conceptual base: they sing in the round, they sing a capella music beyond the period, and despite the age and imperfect tuning in the group, they don't seem to lose pitch.
What I'm really wanting is something smaller, singing earlier music, with female voices. Yes, I want to be Trio Medieval or Anonymous Four. Or something different, but something like that. (Medieval Baebes? Maybe, maybe not.) I sang with a woman at a wedding years ago. She had a gorgeous, very high, soprano voice. (I'm a soprano, and I've got range, but I've got a darker, mellower, tone.) I'm thinking about looking her up and saying, "Hey, would you like to sing?"
The pieces that sounded the best on their program were the 'modern motets,' which included some by Brahams. I have become a massive Brahams fan over the past few years, every since I heard his Requiem. He does this thing with counterpoint, where there's a low bass tone that just holds through the music: it feels like my heart is being pulled out of my chest. I love it.
I'm guessing that the reason the 'modern motets' sounded so good is because most the singers have traditional choral backgrounds and felt more confident in the tuning. Listening to their confidence on these pieces, I had never been so conscious of how different the tuning is in earlier music.
I was also not conscious of how old and geeky early music is. Early music practically stinks of old man. Hilariously, the program contained an ad designed by my mother when she was the editor of the early music newsletter. But there were no names or faces that were familiar to me.
Anyway, it was the right thing to do. The group is having a series of open sight singing sessions this spring. I will be going and making my decision then it they are a group I'm interested in singing with.
I find out today if I got the part time temp job.
* St. Nicholas Party - yay!
* Christmas Cookies - and assorted arguments about what constitutes a Xmas Cookie. I am of the opinion that plebian cookies made the rest of the year do not belong. (Aka oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip. rice crispy treats) They at very least need to be gussied up for the season. I don't know why I feel this day, I just do. I think it's from a lack of ethnic traditions (or any tradition at all) in my family makes me grasp what little I remember from my gma, who was big on Xmas, albeit in a somewhat Southern way. (Cookies that count: bourbon balls, pecan tarts, and if you like it and/or can make it: divinity and fudge. I've also add cosmic cookies: shortbread stars, and walnut crescents, as my own contributions to the season.)
* Renaissance Project Concert - I am actively looking for a new place to sing. This 24-piece group is a little on the large side, and the director tends towards high and late British renaissance. But I like the conceptual base: they sing in the round, they sing a capella music beyond the period, and despite the age and imperfect tuning in the group, they don't seem to lose pitch.
What I'm really wanting is something smaller, singing earlier music, with female voices. Yes, I want to be Trio Medieval or Anonymous Four. Or something different, but something like that. (Medieval Baebes? Maybe, maybe not.) I sang with a woman at a wedding years ago. She had a gorgeous, very high, soprano voice. (I'm a soprano, and I've got range, but I've got a darker, mellower, tone.) I'm thinking about looking her up and saying, "Hey, would you like to sing?"
The pieces that sounded the best on their program were the 'modern motets,' which included some by Brahams. I have become a massive Brahams fan over the past few years, every since I heard his Requiem. He does this thing with counterpoint, where there's a low bass tone that just holds through the music: it feels like my heart is being pulled out of my chest. I love it.
I'm guessing that the reason the 'modern motets' sounded so good is because most the singers have traditional choral backgrounds and felt more confident in the tuning. Listening to their confidence on these pieces, I had never been so conscious of how different the tuning is in earlier music.
I was also not conscious of how old and geeky early music is. Early music practically stinks of old man. Hilariously, the program contained an ad designed by my mother when she was the editor of the early music newsletter. But there were no names or faces that were familiar to me.
Anyway, it was the right thing to do. The group is having a series of open sight singing sessions this spring. I will be going and making my decision then it they are a group I'm interested in singing with.
I find out today if I got the part time temp job.
