Church Diaries
Choir Practice It’s Wednesday night choir practice time. As usual, only half the choir has shown up. This is a problem, because we only have eighteen people to begin with: 2 basses, 2 tenors, 3 […]
Choir Practice It’s Wednesday night choir practice time. As usual, only half the choir has shown up. This is a problem, because we only have eighteen people to begin with: 2 basses, 2 tenors, 3 […]
Saturday was my birthday. I wanted wine and song. My daughter called from Ireland to wish me a grand year, and suggested I check the internet machine for our local beloved troubadour to see where […]
As a child, I swore that one day I would grow up to be a Supreme. It didn’t matter that I was short, tone deaf and six-years-old, I would knock Diana Ross off her heels […]
What’s the single most grating sound your eardrums will ever encounter? The shriek of fingernails grinding over a chalkboard? Sarah Palin talking? Nope, it’s the shriek of a kid practicing on a wood-wind instrument. In […]
Yesterday I was reading the liner notes of a music CD. The band had risen quickly, toured relentlessly, and then imploded after the tensions caused from too much Holiday Inn food boiled over. Have you […]
Stage Directors The average opera has several principal singers, a few comprimario singers (opera speak for bit players), a chorus and sometimes dancers. Some supernumeraries might also be hired to carry big stuff, sit or […]
Have you seen this? The new “50 Shades of Grey” trailer is intended to make us salivate for the new movie, but all it does is remind us why we hate car commercials and bad song remakes. Click here […]
Conductor, noun (kǝn dǝk tǝr): A musician who plays no instrument, yet always gets top billing. Train Wreck, noun (trān rek): In ensemble music, the condition that results when one of the players or singers […]
Baritones and Basses Baritones are the sex gods of the opera world.* A baritone voice and hot looks seem to go together. The irony is that baritones, the hottest guys on the opera stage, are […]