The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: BlueStateSaint on May 29, 2010, 05:41:55 PM
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Gang, some of you may know that I sing in my church's choir. I'm a tenor, and there's usually two or three other tenors when we sing at the Masses we sing at. (Of the four voices, the tenors have the fewest members in the choir I'm in. We usually have more sopranos show up than we have all the other voices combined.) Tomorrow is our last Mass that we'll sing at until the next school year starts in September.
Our prelude, to commemorate Memorial Day, is the Battle Hymn of the Republic, which is a very tenor-heavy song. Last year, we had maybe 40 of us there, with six tenors. In the Battle Hymn, there's two soprano parts, one alto part, two tenor parts, and two bass parts. Last year, we had three of us singing Tenor 1 and three singing Tenor 2. We had a new choir director, who used to be a tenor in the same choir about 25 years ago. Now, he teaches music at one of the local high schools, and his students regularly win competitions. This guy is goooood. He knows just how to wring the last bit of sound out of a part to get it sounding just right. Last year, when we finished the Battle Hymn, the estimated 1100 people in the church gave us a standing ovation for a minute and a half. We kicked some serious ass on that song.
That was then. This year, if we're lucky, we'll have four tenors. I'm the only one singing the Tenor 2 part. I am rather nervous about it. Soloing is something I have no real problem with, if I'm the only one up there. but, this part is pretty important to the blend on the verse where I'll be singing it.
And I'm the only one doing it. If I suck singing it, it'll make all of us sound bad.
I've done some work on it this afternoon, so I'm fairly confident that I'll do well. I just have this nagging doubt about it. We have to be there for some last-minute run-throughs at 10:15 AM.
I want to hit this one. Smoothly. Tom Petty was right--"The waiting is the hardest part."
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Blending is the important thing. You will sound fine.
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You'll be just fine!!
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Funny.
I always imagined you a soprano.
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Funny.
I always imagined you a soprano.
My wife cancelled the operation.
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So? how did it go?
My guess is that you did just great!!! :hi5:
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So? how did it go?
My guess is that you did just great!!! :hi5:
That, or they took him out back and shot him in the throat with a BB gun.
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So? how did it go?
My guess is that you did just great!!! :hi5:
Actually, . . . we did. We had four tenors. Three on Tenor 1, and only me on Tenor 2. I more than held my own--blended rather well. I had to turn my my volume a tad because of the odds--a 75-year-old, a 73-year-old, and a 20-year-old tenor against me (45). The 20 year-old doesn't sing with us often--his (slightly older) sister does cantor for our church, and she has an unreal voice. (Easy on the eyes, too--a cute blonde, unlike my cantoring mentor, who has black hair and is also a pretty woman.)
Anyway, we were very nearly flawless on the Battle Hymn. Our 92-year-old bass, Adam, didn't let his advanced pancreatic cancer keep him from singing with us today. Kind of bittersweet--the next time we'll be singing that will probably be at Adam's funeral. We nailed the opening hymn, the offertory, and we had a bit of confusion on the Communion hymn. But, the recessional was God Bless America. That one went into the bullpen. Nailed it. My sister showed up and said that we had done great, compared to her church, which has maybe 12 members in their choir. She missed the Battle Hymn, however. The one that I wanted her to be there for . . . There's next year.
We did pretty well.
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Actually, . . . we did. We had four tenors. Three on Tenor 1, and only me on Tenor 2. I more than held my own--blended rather well. I had to turn my my volume a tad because of the odds--a 75-year-old, a 73-year-old, and a 20-year-old tenor against me (45). The 20 year-old doesn't sing with us often--his (slightly older) sister does cantor for our church, and she has an unreal voice. (Easy on the eyes, too--a cute blonde, unlike my cantoring mentor, who has black hair and is also a pretty woman.)
Anyway, we were very nearly flawless on the Battle Hymn. Our 92-year-old bass, Adam, didn't let his advanced pancreatic cancer keep him from singing with us today. Kind of bittersweet--the next time we'll be singing that will probably be at Adam's funeral. We nailed the opening hymn, the offertory, and we had a bit of confusion on the Communion hymn. But, the recessional was God Bless America. That one went into the bullpen. Nailed it. My sister showed up and said that we had done great, compared to her church, which has maybe 12 members in their choir. She missed the Battle Hymn, however. The one that I wanted her to be there for . . . There's next year.
We did pretty well.
Good for you!!!!!!!
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Actually, . . . we did. We had four tenors. Three on Tenor 1, and only me on Tenor 2. I more than held my own--blended rather well. I had to turn my my volume a tad because of the odds--a 75-year-old, a 73-year-old, and a 20-year-old tenor against me (45). The 20 year-old doesn't sing with us often--his (slightly older) sister does cantor for our church, and she has an unreal voice. (Easy on the eyes, too--a cute blonde, unlike my cantoring mentor, who has black hair and is also a pretty woman.)
Anyway, we were very nearly flawless on the Battle Hymn. Our 92-year-old bass, Adam, didn't let his advanced pancreatic cancer keep him from singing with us today. Kind of bittersweet--the next time we'll be singing that will probably be at Adam's funeral. We nailed the opening hymn, the offertory, and we had a bit of confusion on the Communion hymn. But, the recessional was God Bless America. That one went into the bullpen. Nailed it. My sister showed up and said that we had done great, compared to her church, which has maybe 12 members in their choir. She missed the Battle Hymn, however. The one that I wanted her to be there for . . . There's next year.
We did pretty well.
Yep..knew you would do perfect!!! :hi5:
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To update--one of the guys in our Contemporary Choir recorded it, and distributed it at the three choirs' dinner last night (we also have a Funeral Choir, made up of retired singers). The vocals were a tad muted throughout, but we did good. On the third verse, I can make out the Tenor 2 part, but it's in the background, which means that it was blended rather nicely. Another thing--we have an awesome soprano section.
And, it's been three weeks, which seems like a lot, but it feels like it was yesterday.
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Too bad that you don't have a site to upload it to so we could listen.
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Too bad that you don't have a site to upload it to so we could listen.
I know. Any suggestions?
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What's the file type. You should be able to convert it to .wmmv file using Windows Movie Maker and upload it to YouTube.
If it's under 10mb, you can email the file to me and I'll do it for you.
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I would love to hear it.
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I would love to hear it.
So much has changed in the Christian Choir music department since I was a kid.
M'mere played the pipe organ in a small town Church. The Choir was composed of old seniors that sang the same songs each week. There was no move to get the youth into the Choir as we would have insisted on bringing in a little variety.
This small Congrational church sang the same hymns that had been written 200 years ago. When the Church decided to sell the pipe organ, my grand mother not knowing how to play one of these modern electric organs turned that duty over to someone else.
What a shame, the only Hymns sung with any oomph was Rock of ages and that was better suited for a funeral then for the living.
I finally found the power of music when I was an adult, I attended a black southern baptist Church that Rocked the walls and floors with praise and glory. The choir and us in the pews could not just stand still, we had to move and feel the spirit.
When the service ended I managed to walk out, exhausted and feeling that finally I had found a church of GOD.
They did sing Onward Christian Soldiers and the choir and we in the seats also stomped------gave a new meaning to the Hymn.
You know I once attended a sercice that the Choir sang a Neil Diamons song, Holly Holy I believe and some people fainted.
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Hope it can be uploaded....I want to hear it too!
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Facebook allows people to upload videos to their accounts, just like pictures can be uploaded.
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Facebook allows people to upload videos to their accounts, just like pictures can be uploaded.
I'm not on FB, and it's an audio only file. I just downloaded it to my computer, and I'll figure out how to get it to you, Chris.
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BlueStateSaint sent me the audio files of the performance. I grabbed a couple pictures and I'm in the process of putting everything on YouTube.
Here is the first one:
[youtube=425,350]k0JMj9XwgjE[/youtube]
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Wow!!! The voices are excellent! Good job, BSS. :bow:
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Deb, thanks, but it was a lot of others with those voices, too. Our choir director is good. The music director is good, too.
Seeing that I'm at work, I can't find out which file was posted first, but I think it was the Battle Hymn. I also sent Chris the file of us doing God Bless America as the recessional hymn. We nailed that one.
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Deb, thanks, but it was a lot of others with those voices, too. Our choir director is good. The music director is good, too.
Seeing that I'm at work, I can't find out which file was posted first, but I think it was the Battle Hymn. I also sent Chris the file of us doing God Bless America as the recessional hymn. We nailed that one.
It was Battle Hymn.
Next time y'all do something that you want taped, though....don't put the tape recorder anywhere near the piano... :uhsure:
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It was Battle Hymn.
Next time y'all do something that you want taped, though....don't put the tape recorder anywhere near the piano... :uhsure:
It came out of the soundboard. I noticed that, too. I'll bring it up to the music director, and the sound man (who plays bass for the Contemporary Choir).
And, the choir director had us start the Battle Hymn softly, "as if the Lord was far off. As you sing, He's getting closer. Closer still. By the third verse, He's right there, so you should be singing louder." In the past, I've run on two speeds: "off" and "on," with "on" being 100%. Over the last few years, with the aid of two different choir directors and the pretty and young music teacher, I've been able to refine my vocal settings a tad. They've done a lot for me.
Another thing--that piece chokes me up. A lot. It's tough to sing when you're choking back tears. One of the things that I was originally nervous about with doing the Battle Hymn was the thought that there are a lot of men and women who have served our country that never got a "thank you" for putting their lives on the line. Especially the ones that gave the ultimate sacrifice. I felt as if the ghosts of dead Brave Riflemen and 2d Dragoons were there in the church, to see what I was doing. So, I had that running through my mind, too.
Once we finished the song, I felt that they would approve.
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Here is the second song.
[youtube=425,350]IgL56NS96vA[/youtube]
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Here's the third and final song. Sorry it took so long.
[youtube=425,350]ARnEjQiFSYc[/youtube]