Thursday, March 6, 2008
Singing "Doo Doo"
Katherine Von Till singing "Alto's Lament" always makes me laugh!
I joined the Meeting House Chorus at my UU Congregation to sing in the venerable alto section. It's the type of church chorus with no auditions, but lots of practices. We go over and over the material until we get it right, but the music director also teaches us to read music as we go along. So far, I've learned to recognize the bird's eye and tent icons and a few of the swoops, dots and accent marks. I'm exceptional at pp (sing very quietly) and the "Ha!" during the last chorus of "Turn the World Around" (1074 in our hymnal supplement). The x-on-a-stick means "happy shout." I nail it every time!
Anyway, I'm having loads of fun, except sometimes we altos sing "doo doo" for what seems like ten minutes straight. Easy to memorize, but hard on the lips! Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is difficult in that way.
Right now, we're learning "Seasons of Love" (525,600 minutes) from Rent. The song is all do do, do-do do for altos, but I like it because of the great rock beat. And we get to sing lo-ove....
Happy Ha! shout to all,
Elizabeth
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3 comments:
We sang Seasons of Love in my high school choir a couple of years ago. I've seen the musical three times!
Julie
At my UU church, we just started a chorus, about 10 people. I suspect that, if the 200 of us in the audience fully particpated by raising our singing voices we could fill the space with loving tones. Usually, I tune-up my ears during singing-time, to listen to those who know how to sing. I feel very confident reading the words, however, the pacing of the read is a mystery for me. So, I pay attention to those how know how to sing, before I raise my voice. I'm much better the second time around.
Thanks, Joe, for your inspiring comment!
Let's all remember that we're not the "audience" at our worship services. We are the congregation.
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