The band that I’m in had our first performance last night. It was a 60th surprise birthday party where the husband and sons had rented out a renovated theater for a night of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and music. We were the musical entertainment for the first hour once the guest of honor had arrived. Our lead guitarist had another (paying) gig that started at 9 pm about a half hour’s drive away, and the guest of honor arrived after 7, so we could only play a short set of songs during that first hour. After that, the sons and CK took over and I chimed in now and then when I could figure out an impromptu harmony.
How did it go? Well, there were hits and misses, as is often the case with music and performance. Overall, I’d say it was a good first performance. Stellar at the end, only so-so at the beginning.
The hits were with our 4 ending songs. And hey, if you can go out with a bang, sometimes people forget how you started, right?
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.
We (this would be the royal “we”, because CK pretty much decided the set list) placed our best songs at the end, because we knew we’d be singing while people were getting their food and drinks (in another room), and that they might not even hear some of the early ones. CK strategically got everyone into the room to sing Happy Birthday, and then we ended with our 4 best songs. What were those songs?
1. Crazy Love by Poco
(Take Me Home Country Roads is not really one of our best, but we sang it between 1 and 2)
2. You And Tequila by Kenny Chesney (featuring Grace Potter)
3. Without You by Keith Urban
4. Flies On the Butter written by Chuck Cannon
All four of those were probably the best we’ve ever done them.
We started with others that had some problems. Initially, I wasn’t turned up loud enough in the system (I also had a weaker microphone). So, I had to try to start belting things out more. That works just fine for my lower range (chest voice), but in my head voice, I really can’t belt without sounding wretched. I really did try to use chest voice for my high harmony notes on Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver), but I was stretched to the limit, and I think it may have sounded a little strained. I’m honestly not sure, because I couldn’t hear myself all that well.
The songs we started with were the following:
1. Fire and Rain by James Taylor
2. Rocky Mountain High by John Denver
3. Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel
4. Danny’s Song by Kenny Loggins <– we’d only practiced this one a couple of times EVER. It probably would’ve been better if we’d left it out and done Shower the People instead, but at the time we didn’t know how much we’d fit in and we’d scheduled Shower the People as one of our ending “good” songs too that ended up getting cut.
5. Helplessly Hoping by Crosby, Stills, and Nash
And then the 4 that I’ve already mentioned (Crazy Love, You And Tequila, Without You, Flies On the Butter).
It was fun. I really love the challenge of performing. The challenge comes with finding a groove where I can let go and get emotionally connected to the music while still hitting all of the notes the way I want. It was a bit odd not being able to see anyone’s faces (we had lights shining at us really brightly as is often the case with performing on stage). I’m so used to my church setting where I can pick out people who are looking at me and make eye contact with them. In a non-church setting where people have the option of talking while I’m performing, it gives me a boost when people are listening attentively and not just talking over the music. I’m hoping that some of our future venues will allow for more eye contact, but if not, I’ll just have to keep pretending/imagining that they are listening! We don’t have any particular things booked right now, but we are going to keep working up 2-3 new songs each week as much as possible while some seeds that have been planted with regards to venues have time to germinate.
Jenski very kindly made and snail-mailed me a mix CD of some of her favorite songs that might be possibilities. I noticed right away an Indigo Girls song that I have on my short list of possibilities – Get Out The Map. She also has told me the Wailin Jennys might be a good source of music, so she included some of their songs. I’m looking forward to taking the time to listen to those songs. Thanks again, Jenski!
Jenski left this comment on the last post, and I’ve decided to just write my response into a blog post.
“Sounds like so much fun!! Do you guys have plans about how/when/where you want to perform yet?”
YES! It IS so much fun!
And yes, we have our first performance planned already! We are singing at a surprise 60th birthday party in a couple of weeks where the sons of the b-day woman are renting out a local, renovated theatre and having an “informal” music jam of sorts. I guess one of her favorite things is to hear “her boys” play and sing music. Her sons are not the guys in our band, but they are friends with the two guys in the band and they want someone with better sound to kick off the night. This birthday party is actually what drove the two guys in the band to FINALLY get together and figure out some songs (they’ve been talking about it for 10 years). It is sort of an interesting story, so I’ll go ahead and tell it here. But stick with me, it is a bit round about.
Both fall semesters at school, I’ve sung in a faculty/staff gospel band at school with several vocalists, and a handful of instrumentalists. So, the lead singer (we’ll call him CK) had kind of heard me sing in that, because he sang and played guitar in the band. And he sang this really gorgeous a capella solo of “O Holy Night” at last year’s school Christmas party; I knew his voice was amazing from that.
This semester, I’ve attended a Chapel service a couple of times where friends have heard me singing, and they suggested I sing a duet with another woman at the school. She emailed me and she has been working on finding a good duet for us. At our school Christmas party, I ran into her and she suggested that we ask CK to play guitar with us (and maybe even sing).
So, at the party, I found CK and explained the situation to him. We were discussing music and such, and then the second guy in the band (we’ll call him SG for super-guitarist) walks up.
Short, but critical tangent: I know SG from a band that he is in comprised of people from school, he plays amazing electric guitar in that band. That band does classic rock (Eagles, Beatles, Jimmy Buffett, etc.), and every time I hear them, I wish I was singing with them! I’ve been looking for an opportune moment to offer to sing back-up vocals with them, but had yet to find a moment.
And here I am just finishing my conversation with CK about music and SG starts talking to him about the idea of getting together over break and working up some songs and something and something I wasn’t entirely following. BUT I start to realize that they are talking about the difficulty of getting the entire band that SG is in together because of the holidays, vacations, and such. “AHA! This is my moment!” I think “they are short on people!”
I basically said that if they needed a back-up singer, I’d love to sing with them. And immediately CK starts telling SG how great I harmonize and how wonderful it would be for me to sing with them! (a great boost for my confidence, let me tell you) You have to realize, SG had never heard me sing before, but he trusted CK’s judgment. Then, we got down to the nitty gritty details, and I realized they were talking about NOT SGs band, but starting something new! ooooo! even better!
I got them to nail down a practice date about 5 days away and I put my contact info into SGs iPhone to seal the deal, so to speak.
And the band was formed. Tah-dah!
We opened our first rehearsal with Country Roads by John Denver, and it sounded like we’d been singing and playing together for weeks. It was truly amazing and magical.
When we were done with that song, we all sort of just grinned at each other in a stunned sort of way.
Like I said, that birthday party, our first performance, is in 2 weeks! We will only sing & play for about an hour with the 3 of us, because SG has to go play with his other band that night, but we’ll start the night and then the sons of this woman having the birthday will play with CK and me, and then the sons will likely take over and CK and I will be more peripheral. It is going to be sort of impromptu as far as that goes.
The great thing is that since we’ve had a goal, we’ve made a point of practicing every week and we are getting serious about building a set list and really perfecting our songs.
Once we get enough songs, we’ll see if we can find any other venues to sing and play! cool, huh?
We had another band practice on Monday night. This is the 3 person (secular) band I’m in, and not my Praise Band at church.
There were some really great moments!
Our lead singer had to get up before 4 am that morning due to a work emergency, so he wasn’t able to sing very high and we didn’t do any John Denver songs. I had been looking forward to singing and recording those with my iPhone. Instead, I recorded a few others so that we could listen to them after the fact and also to continue to learn each others’ nuances (pronunciations, breathing/phrasing, emphases, etc.). We all have iPhones, oddly enough, so it is really easy to record and share voice memos.
Also, I DID go ahead and play them some songs that I’d been considering which were American Honey (Lady Antebellum) and If I Die Young (The Band Perry). It triggered them to think of some additional ideas, like a Keith Urban song called Without You, and it is helping us find our “style.” We are starting to veer more into country than I’d originally expected. It is really appropriate for Texas, of course, but isn’t what any of us were planning. But MAN do I love the sound of some of the songs! They’ve got a lot of bounce in them, and they sound amazing with just guitars.
Yesterday, the lead singer sent me a link to a really perfect duet, You and Tequila (Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter). I was concerned that we were cutting our 3rd person out of the vocals by singing a duet, but he told me that the 3rd person would prefer to play guitar on most songs and just add additional vocals here and there. That actually opens up a whole new world of possibilities, because it is really easy to find 2 part harmony songs! I’m super psyched about it! I’ve already learned my part mostly for those two songs, partly because I go back to school tomorrow and won’t have as much time for the rest of the week. Partly, because it is the sort of thing I do when I’m getting ready in the morning, eating breakfast, or hanging out in the evening, these days.
I’m still wishing everyone I see “Happy New Year.” So, I send you that message of joy as well.
I truly hope that this year is a good one for all of us.
It has been about a week since I posted, and since I’m still ON BREAK (*hip-hip-horray!*), I feel like I can have a leisurely breakfast and write up some thoughts about the past week.
Last Friday, Texas Seestor was off of work and we got together with some friends and saw the Muppets! It was SUCH a fun and funny movie! It had a huge number of 80′s references and comments sort of making fun of itself; I love that they weren’t taking themselves too seriously.
New Year’s Eve was really fabulous. I had a migraine for most of the day, but it went away enough by the evening that we went to a dessert and drinks party that some friends were hosting. They have this party annually, but it is the first that we’ve gotten to go, because Mom and Dad stayed home with my nieces and babysat so that Texas Seestor, Trainwreck, and I could go to the party.
The desserts were SO YUMMY! And then we started playing Rock Band.
OMG was it ever fun!
I’ve never played it before, but they had a microphone, so we started with Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock And Roll” and I sang the lead. I wasn’t sure ahead of time if it would be in my range, but it was! I rocked it out! There was a bit of a weird time-delay/echo that I’ve noticed with gaming systems that do karaoke, but I pretty much just tried to ignore it and focus on hitting all of the pitches and slides correctly. It was SO COOL!
I did not try to play any instruments; I was having too much fun either singing the lead, or singing along with Texas Seestor whenever she or someone else was singing.
It makes me want to go out for karaoke sometime.
How often do I think that?
In other music news, the new band I’m in had our second practice on Monday after New Year’s Eve. I shake my head at how quickly songs are coming together; it is really remarkable. The lead vocalist’s voice has such texture and richness to it. And man does he shine on John Denver songs!
We are working on a song that has only been recorded once, and we are doing it more like it was originally written, so I ended up recording it with my iPhone in order to learn the new rhythms and phrasing. I’ve listened to it a lot this week in order to learn all of those things, but also to just have the sound wash over me. Listening to it again the next day really surprised me. At the time when we were singing it and I was recording it, I was working so hard to match his phrasing, that I couldn’t really appreciate it. But listening to it after the fact let me revel in the moments when our phrasing, slides, and sounds were matched (especially toward the end of the song).
It is a good one.
We’ve got 6 songs that are ready to go with just two practices. I’m working on learning an additional 10 songs this week to see if we can take some songs that do not typically have a lot of harmony parts in them and add harmonies to them.
The challenge is finding songs for acoustic guitars with 3 part harmonies.
I’ve realized that a lot of songs with harmony that I’ve always loved have keyboards, electric guitars, and drums (and are usually 2-part); sometimes they sound fine scaled back to 2 guitars, but other times, probably not. We’ve got some Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Eagles, John Denver (as mentioned), James Taylor, and the Beach Boys. I’ve got the other 2 guys ready to do an Indigo Girls song (Power of Two)! We’ll see how that one goes this coming week. I’m working on convincing them to consider Dixie Chicks, Rascal Flatts, and Lady Antebellum. I’d love to find a good Corrs song that would work for our voices!
Anyway, it has been a nice part of my break to be working on this. I need something to channel my energy into.
I’ve also cleaned up my apartment, and hung some artwork.
I teamed up with a friend at Trivia Night on Wednesday night and we won! It was mostly due to his knowledge, because he wins a lot, but I knew a few questions that he would’ve missed if I hadn’t been on his team. He let me have the bottle of wine that came with the winnings. It was the wine that I had been drinking that night, so I know it is a good one. He kept the little certificate thing to add to his montage of certificates.
If you are wondering: One of the questions I knew (that he didn’t know) was about the city that had the first subway.
Of course I knew that answer! Boston! You can’t exactly live there for 7 years and not hear about that at some point.
We got an extra point for guessing the year it started. 1897!
cool, huh!?
My other friend is back in town after being gone to Colorado for the holidays. We went out to supper last night. She will get to join us for trivia next week too. She and I are going to attempt to be “good” and continue getting a lot of work done next week for school, so we are limiting our plans to mostly evening events.
Yes, I’m on break next week too. Meetings start on Thursday of next week (Jan 12th) and classes start on Wednesday of the following week (Jan 18th).
But this whole break is sort of a working break. I worked up until Christmas Eve and I worked some the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I’ve mostly ended up doing a “slow down” when I’m at my apartment and not visiting family. Although there was nothing slow about doing that curriculum proposal last week. Whew! That was a hard one. But I got it in, and I heard back from the chair of the committee this week that it looked really good! woooot-wooooot!!!
Okay. And with that reminder of work, and since it is now 9:30 am, I ought to write a recommendation letter for a student who wants to go on a Study Abroad trip or maybe work on my syllabus for Genetics.
I just finished watching X-Men First Class in Blu-Ray. What an amazing movie. I loved getting to hear the back story on Erik/Magneto, Raven/Mystique, and Charles. It was really cool and had some neat twists and turns. It is too bad that there wasn’t more of Hugh Jackman in it (Wolverine), BUT the fact that James McAvoy was in almost every scene made up for it.
I’m such a sucker for any James McAvoy movie. I fell for him when I saw him in Penelope and it blossomed into a huge crush when I saw Becoming Jane.
But I digress.
The X-Men movies are really great; I highly recommend them.
I had a lot of fun with my family for Christmas last weekend. And here we are, on Wednesday, headed into New Year’s weekend, which I’ll spend with them again! We are starting to make plans for more movies and meals together.
Yesterday and today, I’ve been trying to tie up various things on my work to-do list. The letter of recommendation I needed to do for a student was relatively easy. Of course, today I got another request from a different student. The curriculum proposal for a new Developmental Biology course has taken quite a bit more of my time and energy. But I got a pretty good draft completed tonight. I’ll talk to my department chair about it tomorrow and hopefully have it wrapped up and submitted tomorrow. It is officially due on Friday at 5 pm, so if I can finish it on Thursday, I can take Friday OFF and not think about work.
I DID go for an exercise walk yesterday in our gorgeous 60+ degree weather. It was really fabulous. I’d wanted to go again today, but I was focused and trying to get the proposal done by supper, so I skipped it.
I’ve also managed to run some errands, which included boring things like grocery shopping, and getting food for Max, but also included fun stuff like stopping in at Dress Barn to check out their sales. I did find one cute top and one sweater; both have some frills and ruffles and have purple in them!
I also found a new, fitted exercise (dry) t-shirt in purple too (at a sporting goods store). I’ve been wanting to buy some new clothes since the weather has turned cooler, and just haven’t managed to find the time. I’m hoping to get to some more stores in the upcoming weeks. Everything is pretty picked over, so it is a bit challenging, but this is when I finally have time, so this is when I’ll go!
I finally saw “The Blind Side” with Texas Seestor and Trainwreck last weekend. It was a really good movie. I can totally see why it won awards.
I also rented “Crazy, Stupid, Love” which I do NOT recommend unless you are a Ryan Gosling fan and just want some eye candy. I’d gone to redbox a bit spontaneously (and had not scouted the availability out ahead of time) and had wanted to rent X-Men. When it was empty, I just picked a “romantic comedy” instead that I’d thought had good reviews. Not the best choice, and it taught me to plan ahead, for sure! Oh well, two out of three movies is pretty good.
In other news, the new band that I’m in had our first practice last week. We are mainly working on songs that are designed for 2-3 part harmony and acoustic guitars (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver), sort of a country/rock cross. We had some really gorgeous chords during some of our very first run-throughs on songs. I got goosebumps a couple of times! We have a lot of potential. We’ll see if anything more becomes of it than just playing for someone’s surprise birthday party in late January. I’d like it to become something more. But for now, it is just good that we have any kind of goal; it will keep us practicing regularly and getting a bit of a set list down. I’ve had fun learning harmonies on all kinds of new songs and resurrecting harmonies I’ve sort of learned but haven’t been able to sing with anyone (like the 80′s songs such as “More Than Words” or “Hole Hearted”). I’m also stretching into country a little bit more than I’ve ever done before with a Wynnona Judd song and Sons of the Pioneers. It has been really interesting to branch out a bit more.
Okay. It is 11 pm, so it is definitely time for bed so that I can be bright and bushy-tailed for my work on my proposal tomorrow. Later!
I haven’t really written anything up lately about ALL of the fun performances and shows that I’ve been able to attend this fall. You already know (from my “Summer Summary post”) that this summer included my getting to see productions of Footloose and Hairspray.
Well, I haven’t told you all of the other exciting shows I’ve been to lately, so now is my chance! Unfortunately, I don’t get to take photos at shows, so the only way I really have to “remember” them is the programs, which really fall short when it comes to photos.
Here are some of the shows I’ve been to lately and my thoughts about them!
We kicked off our fall season with “Rain: a tribute to the Beatles.” The show was mostly set up like a tribute concert. It was amazing how much the performers sounded like the Beatles. They really had all of the inflections and emphases down perfectly in the songs. They held the notes and/or breathed during phrases at all the right spots. It was really, really fabulous.
They also had a few songs where they did a sing-along (from memory). I got chills listening to this huge number of people of all ages singing Beatles songs from memory.
So You Think You Can Dance 2011 was the next major event we went to see! It was AMAZING! We had really close seats on the side which were ABOVE the level of the stage. As much as I liked being in the 5th row one year and the 11th-14th row the next year, it was weird being on the ground and being below the level of the stage. I couldn’t see their feet from the knee down when I sat that close. Of course, it was still incredible being that close those years, and as you’ll recall, I got some fun photos!
There were a few instances this year where it would’ve been nice to be a bit less on the side, but only a FEW. Most of the time, it was simply AMAZING being that close!!!!! We could see the muscles on the legs, arms, abdomens (for the guys, this was notable), as they expressed themselves through dance.
I cannot recommend this show enough to anyone who is a fan of the TV show.
Part of what was really amazing about it in this year’s touring production, which was different than years past, is that they clustered dances together (especially ones with couples) that were in a similar theme or that could use some of the same staging. And then the dances just sort of flowed from one into the other. It really made it feel less like a highlight or recap of some of the best dances of the season and instead more of a true stage production.
The winner of this year’s competition, Melanie, and the runner-up, Sasha were truly standouts.
Some of the surprises of the night were just how great Jess is when he performs in person. He really has an amazing stage presence; you can see how his Broadway background gives him an edge in live performances. Also, Tadd’s solo was hilarious. He also really interacted with the crowd in an amazing way. And boy is he ripped! I guess if you have to hold yourself upside down on one arm and bounce up and down (one of his b-boy tricks), you’d have amazing muscle definition too! wow.
Nick is the really tall, blond, tap dancer who wasn’t in the top 10, but was one of people who went on tour. Since Ricky was injured for our show, Nick was filling in for him. Nick did a tap number (with Jess) that was just AMAZING!!! To me, he was so much better than I remember him being on TV. I also think that they way that they had the sound and the floor mic’d really made the tap number that much more outstanding.
Some of the girls have really improved too; especially Caitlynn. She was always a great dancer, but she has gotten even stronger with being on tour.
I’m SO glad that Texas Seestor and Trainwreck and I went to the show together. It was amazing!!!
Texas Seestor and I also went to see Footloose (the movie) in the theater one night while Trainwreck took care of the girls. I loved the remake! It made me want to learn country line dancing too! I’m hoping to find a place to get some country line dancing lessons. I decided that it will never make sense for me to buy a gym membership; I’m much better off spending my money on dance lessons, I think. Dance is actually something I’d enjoy doing to get exercise.
One of the next performances we saw was Spring Awakening! A friend of our family was a lead in the production, so it particularly amazing to see the show. We made a point of getting 2nd row seats. It was INCREDIBLE being that close. My gosh is it amazing to see a theater production where you can see all of their facial expressions.
The friend’s range, pitch, emotion, and timing were spot on. He was playing the role of someone with a very different demeanor than his own. So, it was really amazing to see him stretch himself to take on the demeanor, speech, and overall personality of this very different type of person. It is a really heart wrenching story, and I almost cried a couple of times.
You know they are doing a great job, when it tugs at your emotions.
All of the cast is really talented. They did some amazing group numbers. The guys in particular had some really high energy, rocking songs, which were just incredible. The women tended to do more low-key songs, but they had some really beautiful harmonies and moments too. The full cast version of Purple Summer will always be one of my favorites.
Last weekend, we saw South Pacific (touring production). I had never seen a version of South Pacific, so I didn’t know the story. It was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair” and “There is Nothin’ Like a Dame.” “Cockeyed Optimist” was really fun too, because I’m a pretty optimistic person, and I identified with parts of that song. It was a little long in parts and “Bali Hai’i” almost put me to sleep (as did Emile’s solo in Act 2 “This Nearly was Mine”), but things like “Honey Bun” made up for it! I clearly was in the mood for high energy numbers and not romantic stuff like “Some Enchanted Evening.”
I’ve been having a LOT of fun seeing all of these live performances!!
Next week, I get to see Casting Crowns (the contemporary Christian band, which is currently my absolute favorite band)!!!!!
And that same weekend, our school is putting on a really fabulous religious Christmas concert which I’m really, really looking forward to! (it is an annual event, but it changes from year to year) Right now, we’ve got a group of 9 people going to that!
Shortly thereafter, I’ll get to see the touring production of Beauty and the Beast!
SO MUCH FUN! You can’t tell that I’m really loving living here in TX where I get to go see show after show, can you??
I love that Texas Seestor, another friend, and I got tickets to the Broadway series this year together. And that Texas Seestor and Trainwreck are often willing to go see other shows (like SYTYCD). It has been a terrific part of my life here!
I have found it hard to describe, in words, exactly what it is about singing in the Praise Band at church that makes it so meaningful to me.
And so necessary.
My family and friends know that it means a lot to me to sing at church, but I don’t know that anyone quite understands just how much I NEED to sing at church.
In part, singing is my form of prayer. I have known that about myself for some time. In fact, when talking to people about my personal discomfort with praying out loud (with other people around i.e. “leading prayer”), I’ve often said that I’m much more comfortable praying to myself or leading people in prayer (through song) than I am at leading people in verbal, vocal prayers. I’m getting better at praying out loud verbally, but it is not something that comes easily to me.
But back to the part about singing.
So, singing is my form of prayer; we’ve established that. No big surprise there.
But why does singing in the band at church feel SO different than just singing in my car? And why do I NEED to do it? What is it that is so different?
And I was just reading something in a book, and it finally dawned on me what is happening.
When I’m singing in my car, or I’m singing at band practice, I can feel prayerful, BUT there is almost always a part of my brain that is analyzing and critiquing my singing.
“Is that really the best harmony note for that chord?”
“Will we be singing the song in this key so that I can hit that note really strongly? Or will it end up being too high? Too low?”
“Do I need to take a bigger breathe when I’m starting that phrase so that I can support it better?”
“Would this be a song where I ought to play the tambourine?”
“We haven’t done this song in a while, I wonder if we’ll do this one anytime soon.”
“We’ve never done this song at church, I wonder if I ought to bring this up as one we should try?”
“Would this song sound good with just keyboards? or does it really need the full band?”
and on and on.
This is also why the more “routine” a song becomes for me, the more meaning I can get out of it. After hearing a song for several days, weeks, or months, I can shut off my litany of analysis of my singing ability MUCH more easily and really just focus on the words, and the meaning of the song when I’m in the car or practicing. But it is still hard to block out some of those last questions in the list.
And THAT is what makes singing in worship services SO different than singing in my car or in practice. Before the service starts, we always pray that God will work with us and through us and we give it all over to Him; our mistakes, our flubs, our missed notes or missed entrances, ANYthing just becomes peripheral.
During worship, I stop analyzing. I stop thinking.
I’m IN the moment.
I’m focusing on the words and the meaning.
And I’m praying, praising, and literally
singing my heart out
to God and for God.
In that moment, I feel so close to Him.
And it rejuvenates my spirit.
And THAT is why I sing at church and why I NEED to sing at church; to be close to God.
I’m so grateful to the church and the band for allowing me to have that opportunity. I pray that I can grow to feel that close to God ALL of the time when I sing – when I’m in the car, or my apartment, or at practice, or wherever.
But for now, it is good to be able to have this insight into myself and to be able to finally put it into words so that you can understand this side of me too.
Hello again! The Christmas party at school was fun last night, and also useful. (more about that in a bit) I got all gussied up (see photos on Flickr – you have to log in to view them; they are set as private). Leave me a message here that includes your email address in the appropriate box when you comment, and I can share them with you.
Anyway, they are obviously self photos and I don’t have a remote control timer. That means that getting the focal plane correct is hard. So, the close-up one is a bit blurry, but it shows off my bangles and the rhinestones on the neckline of my dress better.
As to the party. I arrived when a friend of mine arrived too with her husband who lives in L.A. (Los Angeles (not Louisiana)) and commutes back and forth to visit. She is vivacious (she is in dramatic media) and fun, so it was great to arrive and have someone to talk to right away. She was also gussied up in a cocktail dress, so it made me feel comfortable to be dressed more formally. It was also fun to meet her husband for the first time. He is also in the entertainment industry.
The reception before the meal was the useful part I referred to earlier. I spent a while talking to a psych professor who is on sabbatical. Since he is not on campus, I’ve only ever seen him before at another party. He does research which is very, very tangentially related to mine, but he knows someone at another local liberal arts school whose research would be closer in topic. We talked about making a road trip to see that person so that I can have a local contact and maybe collaborator.
But that wasn’t even the most useful part. He gave me an idea for something that he has resorted to doing in his Intro to Psych courses to get students to read ahead of time that doesn’t involve me doing a huge bunch of grading! The usual method is to give a quiz. But that means that I (or someone) has to grade the quizzes! He told me that he cuts 3×5 notecards in half, and at the beginning of class he asks one question about the material that will be covered that day for which they should have read ahead. Just a really basic question that they should be able to answer if they even crack their book open. Then each person passes the card to a neighboring student, and that person grades it. He also switches around where they pass their cards so that they can’t make a deal with someone to give each other points or credit that isn’t deserved. He does that in lieu of longer quizzes. I think that I’ll try this and see how it goes next semester. I’ve got to do something to get them to read ahead of time! In addition, the coaches want to know the days that the student-athletes are absent (some of them have strict policies about their athletes missing classes), and I always forget to pass around an attendance sheet. It seems so high school to me that I tend to forget. Thus, this card system will also solve that problem.
Then the announcement was made for us to head to a different room for supper and to sit at our pre-arranged tables. I had fun talking to my friends in kinesiology and athletics and their significant others. The party was quite different than any I’d attended before barring a party associated with church, and here is why.
We started off with what was evidently a prayer – I think they called it a meditation. Then one of the staff sang a beautiful rendition of O Holy Night. It was very well done. We ate food and dessert. Then, after the meal, the faculty/staff bell choir performed about 4 songs. And then, this is where it became evident that I’m at a religiously-affiliated school, the president of the university (also happens to be a former pastor) read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke while a woman played related pieces of Christmas hymns on the piano. The hymns included O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. I’d never had that done before at a party, so that was really neat to me.
Then we transitioned into Silent Night and we all stood and grabbed the menu cards at our tables that had the words to Silent Night on the back. We sang the first verse of Silent Night in English, then Spanish, and then German. I I had a hard time not chuckling at my struggles to sing it in Spanish! The German was easy for me, because – get this – I grew up listening to the Christmas album – John Denver and the Muppets. On that album, they start off Silent Night by singing it in German – which was, of course, the original language of the song. Also, a lot of churches I’ve attended have sung it in German, so it was no big deal to me. But evidently, not many people there knew it in German, because the people at my table commented on my knowing it. Regardless, it was a really special way to end the party. It is times like these that it feels like a perfect fit for me to be at a religiously-affiliated school. It was nice to have the party include what everyone refers to as the real meaning of Christmas.
And yesterday, I finished my lab grades! Today, I have one more homework assignment for my Intro Bio class and I’ll be done with those too! I meet with my department chair on Monday to finalize them. He teaches one of the other sections of the course, and in the past, the two profs for the sections compare grades and make sure that they are sort of in line with each other. They are due Monday at 5 pm, so as of Monday at 5pm (and maybe sooner, if I can manage it) I’ll be OFF on vacation for the week!!!! yay!
Here is the original youtube video. If you like dance movies or dance scenes in movies, you have to watch this one! Make sure you crank up your sound!
Note: on my computer the categories are overlapping the video. If you want to see it in all its glory, click on the words “original youtube video” above.
Sunday was quite eventful in my music and praise life!
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to be joining the Praise Band at my church in a few weeks. Part of the reason this became a fact, instead of a hope, is a series of events that began 3.5 weeks ago.
On that Sunday, 3.5 weeks ago, the pastor gave a sermon about prayer. It was so well received that on Tuesday, he sent an email to everyone on the church email list that he was going to continue preaching about prayer for the next two Sundays.
Prior to this email, I had spoken to the music director, we’ll call him N, about singing with the Praise Band. One of the things N had said to me was that if I ever wanted to sing a solo in church to let him know about the song, and they would fit it in when the message of the song and the message of the sermon were similar. Well, my intention was never to be some big soloist in church; I just wanted to sing with the band. I haven’t really worked to find songs that I’d be good at as a soloist. There are songs that I know, where I’ve done solos on the verses, from my church back in MN. But they aren’t necessarily ones that I’ve connected with the strongest.
BUT since I KNEW the topic of the upcoming sermons, I was inspired to try to find a song in my repertoire that fit with a message of prayer. And voila! I found one of my favorites! The song is a prayer to offer one’s life up to God to do His will, and to be led by Him; it is called The Potter’s Hand.
I emailed N and the pastor to offer up my willingness to sing this song. I sent them the key phrases that were about prayer, and that spoke to me. I suggested that perhaps I could sing it for them so that they could “decide if they wanted to incorporate it” into the 3rd service on prayer; this is code for “you can judge my singing and see if I’m good enough to sing at church.”
Well, I stayed after church on that 2nd Sunday of the prayer series, which was 1.5 weeks ago, and I sang it for and with N. At the end of running through it a few times, he told me that he thought it was ready to go and he’d tell the pastor as much.
Now, it was just a matter of seeing if the pastor thought the message of the song fit with the message of his sermon, and I needed to wait to hear from them.
Well, last week, I never heard from either of them. So, I assumed that it didn’t fit with his sermon after all. I was okay with that. I was mainly excited that I’d be joining the band soon (Aug 22)! I got ready for church, like usual. I showed up about 5 minutes before the service would start, like usual. And when I was walking down the aisle to go to my see, N was at the front of the church and walking toward me waving at me to come talk to him.
Our conversation was something like this:
N says “Hi Danielle! I’m so glad to see you! I lost your phone number and wasn’t able to reach you. Would you be willing to sing with the band today?”
Mind you, they had just finished practice and the service was about to start.
My eyes widen and I pause and say “uhhhhhhh….. sure.”
“Because we are planning on doing the Potter’s Hand.”
“Oh!” pause “Did you want me to sing lead vocals?”
N says “Absolutely!”
I say “uhhhhh… sure!”
And then we had a hurried 3 minute conversation discussing the logistics. My biggest concern was that when we had practiced it the week prior, I discovered that they did a different order of chorus and verses once they got through all of it once and were doing the repeats. I had these visions of my being ready to sing another chorus when the band was going back to a verse! But he reassured me that the powerpoint was correct and that the person running it would switch the slides in time for me to be prepared for the next part of the song.
And then, we prayed. And the service started!
The opening songs were great. It felt wonderful to be back up front singing and helping to lead the worship music. I felt right at home. Albeit, I was still adjusting to the sound and microphone some.
The pastor gave the children’s message, and I knew The Potter’s Hand was up next, and my mouth was getting a little dry from nerves. I drank water, ate a mint. And then it was time for me to lead everyone in singing the Potter’s Hand!
Once I got up front, and the keyboardist started playing the song, my nerves went away with the familiarity of it. N started introducing me; I was listening to him until the vocalist next to me started humming the song. When I heard her, I realized the key was VERY different than what I’d practiced. I realized, or at least I thought I realized, that singing it at the high octave might make it too high when it got to a later part of the song. And singing it at the lower octave might be too low. But I didn’t have time to try it out, because by then, he was done introducing me and I needed to start singing!
oh dear!
I decided to sing it low. As I was going through the first line and approaching the second, in my head, I did one of these “oh crap! I’m not sure I can hit the next notes, because they are so low!”, but I kept singing. And I hit them!
To give you a sense of what I’m talking about, I recorded me singing it at the approximate key where we’d practiced it and then the key that I (think) I actually sang it during the service.
Note: In order to a) use the equipment that I have – which is only an HD video camera that has audio too and to b) continue to not show any pictures of me and protect my anonymity, of sorts, the recordings just show my computer screen of the words while I’m singing.
Oh and I’m, of course, singing it acapella, since I don’t own or know how to play keyboards. And I was behind the camera so that I could see the words on my computer screen and have the camera recording the computer screen. But it has decent sound, I think.
Here is the key that I did in practice:
And here is most of the song in the (approximate) key that I sang at the service. Note that I did it in one “take” and discovered after I’d uploaded it to Flickr that Flickr only accepts videos of 90 seconds maximum. My video was 1:48, so the last line is cut off. I didn’t want to re-record it, or edit it, since it had already taken me a while to get it all set up and then to upload it. But again, you can hear a decent chunk of it; I cut out the 2nd verse, as it stands.
I’m also a little nervous about putting this out there, because it isn’t perfect by any means. But well, perfection is overrated, right?
And there you have it!
It was well received. People in the band were very complimentary and surprised (in a good way), judging from their comments. I felt good about it. N told me it was good.
And regardless of how it went, I sing in the band on Aug 22nd!
