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"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing."
--George Bernard Shaw
Why I am in the choir:
"Music. It’s a funny thing, really. The notes, only little black circles with sticks attached, tell people a specific pitch to sing and exactly when to do so. When someone sings, they have to control their voice, breathing, and intonation perfectly to produce music. On paper it seems more like a science than an art. However, when all of those things are executed by a talented choir, the result is miraculous. Charles W. Landon once said, “Where speech fails, then music begins. It is the natural medium for the expression of our emotions—the art that expresses in tones our feelings which are too strong and deep to be expressed in words.” He was right. Music is strength and beauty and love. And that’s what got me. "
The Top 10 Reasons to Date a Showchoir Member:
1. We got rhythm
2. We can be good fakers
3. We can be loud or quiet
4. We can do it in front of large crowds
5. We perform better when judged
6. We can move fast or slow
7. We like it in big groups
8. We can undress anywhere
9. We keep goin no matter how we rank
10. We go all day long
Twenty Choir Commandments
THOU SHALT NOT
1. Be late for choir. The last shall not be first in choirland.
2. Talk above the director. It’s distracting. Besides, you can still learn something as the director berates the altos. (again)
3. Keep singing when you are no longer directed. We stop singing to clear the air. Don’t pollute it.
4. Ignore the director. It’s not nice to hurt feelings.
5. Find your note by trying different ones. The hunt-and-peck method hath no place in choir.
6. Come to the performance but not on rehearsal day. Think of the fun you miss.
7. Sing a better part than the one written. This is not the “joyful noise” the psalmist had in mind.
8. Hum. Whether it’s with the organ introductions, or preludes, or just the little free form tune in your ear: humming distracts.
9. Treat choir casually. Remember, this is not singing for the “Gong Show.”
10. Sing along while the director is rehearsing another section. It is not helpful and you usually sound terrible.
THOU SHALT
1. Be on time. Even if the director is not. The director needs less practice than you do.
2. Do penance for not knowing everyone’s name. At least in your section, if not the whole choir.
3. Give your choir a high(er) priority in your schedule. Tape the game and watch it later.
4. Feel the message of the music. Any bunch of robots can execute notes.
5. Return music on time. It’s purgatory for those who accumulate music at home.
6. Recruit more members. Have you hugged a soprano today?
7. Thank the organist/pianist for their hard work. These people are so frequently the unsung (so to speak) heroes in the choir.
8. Consider how much better you would sound with just a little more effort. A tiny effort multiplied by the total number of singers would be significant.
9. Call your section leader if you can’t attend. Make those section leaders earn those fat paychecks.
10. Be involved with the music. The music the choir sings can be life-changing. Seize the moment!
Other great choir quotes...
“Music is the universal language of mankind.”
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Where speech fails, then music begins. It is the natural medium for the expression of our emotions—the art that expresses in tones our feelings which are too strong and deep to be expressed in words.”
--Charles W. Landon
“I think I should have what no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.”
--George Elliot
"Hell is full of musical amateurs."
--G.B. Shaw
"The greatest things in music cannot be contained on paper."
--John Kincaid
"I believe joy should sound like joy, and pain should sound like pain. I don't want to hear voices, I want to hear souls!"
--Robert Shaw
"Music is the prophecy of what life is to be; the rainbow of promise translated out of seeing into hearing."
--Lydia M. Child
“Without music, life is a journey through a desert.”
--Pat Conroy
"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
--Berthold Auerbach
"Music is the last true voice of the human spirit. It can go beyond language, beyond age, and beyond color... straight to the mind and heart of all people."
--Ben Harper
"Music is love in search of a word."
--Sidney Lanier
"Music is enough for a lifetime - but a lifetime is not enough for music."
--Sergei Rachmaninoff
"It seems to me that if you really believe in the integrity and worth of a piece of music, then you must believe that it speaks or ought to speak ideally with a directness and persuasiveness far beyond your own 'poor power to add or detract.' And your only valid endeavor is to get out of the way of the music."
--Robert Shaw
A non-choir quote (gasp)...
"Those who are desperate, those who have no hope, and those who are lost are looking for truth. They don't care about the formation of scripture. They don't care about what Martin Luther said or did not say. All they know—all any of us know—is that once we were LOST and now we are found. There is hope and truth in that."
this is amusing...
"Never worry about today being the last day of the world, because it is already tomorrow in Australia."
--Charles Schulz
Park Singers wordfind!
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