Oh, and geeze, most importantly, I love that you're doing the alto thing. I'm still doing the violin thing every Saturday and will be playing two Bach minuets on a recital in April. So hard, fun, humbling, amazing, all everything. Thank you for the 2024 amateur challenge. xoxoxo+
This piece literally made me weep, it's speaks to my heart in so many ways and is just so beautifully written - thank you, Kathy. I felt nervous for the singers in your competition while reading this, as one who only rose above on the rare occasion as a soloist (I actually won one or two of those Louisiana competitions way back when (somehow) before I began to self-destruct). In choir, I found my way. Speaking of choir, this installment has reminded me of an art installation that I just couldn't get enough of when it was up and that was Janet Cardiff's "The Forty Part Motet," where she recorded each of forty male voices rehearsing Thomas Tallis's "Spem in Alium" and then played them back through 40 speakers arranged in quintets placed strategically around the space. The "viewer" could walk by each speaker and listen to each solo voice, in all of its beauty and imperfection, and then stand away from the speakers and take in the piece as a perfect whole. (I also loved that it was a rehearsal, so she recorded some banter at the end of the session, before the piece played back in a loop - :)) You've articulated in this blog what that piece spoke to me - so, thank you.
Oh the Gotcha part! Wow. So true. I'm so happy to read that you are finding ways to detach from that sort of music making. Loved every part of this essay. XO
Oh, and geeze, most importantly, I love that you're doing the alto thing. I'm still doing the violin thing every Saturday and will be playing two Bach minuets on a recital in April. So hard, fun, humbling, amazing, all everything. Thank you for the 2024 amateur challenge. xoxoxo+
This piece literally made me weep, it's speaks to my heart in so many ways and is just so beautifully written - thank you, Kathy. I felt nervous for the singers in your competition while reading this, as one who only rose above on the rare occasion as a soloist (I actually won one or two of those Louisiana competitions way back when (somehow) before I began to self-destruct). In choir, I found my way. Speaking of choir, this installment has reminded me of an art installation that I just couldn't get enough of when it was up and that was Janet Cardiff's "The Forty Part Motet," where she recorded each of forty male voices rehearsing Thomas Tallis's "Spem in Alium" and then played them back through 40 speakers arranged in quintets placed strategically around the space. The "viewer" could walk by each speaker and listen to each solo voice, in all of its beauty and imperfection, and then stand away from the speakers and take in the piece as a perfect whole. (I also loved that it was a rehearsal, so she recorded some banter at the end of the session, before the piece played back in a loop - :)) You've articulated in this blog what that piece spoke to me - so, thank you.
Oh the Gotcha part! Wow. So true. I'm so happy to read that you are finding ways to detach from that sort of music making. Loved every part of this essay. XO