All I get is “Wow!”
Yesterday was my first time going to a gay men’s chorus in Palm Springs to find out more and/or audition. Well, it happened. I went and filled out the form and sat down to listen to the director and board members discuss their previous concert and whatnot. Let me let you know, I’ve never laughed so much in my life. Gay people are so amazing because we do these little blurps of words such as “You know that’s right!” “There is a God” “Work it Bitch!” (Shit Black Church Women Say, if you will)—- that was honestly the best thing about attending the first information rehearsal. There was a singer I sat next to during the info session and a long the lines of information, there was a guy that said one of his friends would provide a Midi for us. And the singer next to me said, “It’s really helpful when you need to learn the part”. In my head, I thought, “I only use recordings if I’m really really desperate to learn the piece last minute. Otherwise, I practice on my own and on a piano”. I meet the pianist (who, by the way looks like Bill Parrish) and all of the board members. Good time.
So, the director says, if you are new, you are more than welcome to stay afterwards so that we can do say, a three minute audition. Well, there were 19 other people and let’s just say that I was serious one of the last ones. I was falling asleep. I wasn’t exactly awake for everything. I tried to just focus and maybe talk with people, which I did, but it was taking too much energy out of me, I literally just started to close my eyes and wait for the next name to be called.
The new people who were auditioning were nervous, I just wanted to get it over with. I mean, I’ve been to auditions and one thing I know is, if you can sing, you can sing. If you cannot, you cannot. There’s no hiding it. The major difference that will set me apart from the rest is that I come with extensive musical background. I’ve literally done a lot of musical things that when you look at my music resume, it’s above the average.
Waiting, waiting and more waiting. People that come down and talk to me are getting their names called and I’m just sitting there. Finally, “Jackie, and honey, I’m not going to even try to pronounce that last name”. LMBO!
I go in there and I shake the director’s hand. We go to the grand piano. He looks at what I wrote. There were questions such as, “Have you ever sang in a musical?” Yes. “Do you read music?” Yes. “Have you ever sang in a choir?” Yes. “Have you ever sang as a soloist?” Yes. Then, toward the bottom of the application, it stated to “List all musical experience you have. Example, choirs… Or that you just love to sing”. My list included the following: BA in Vocal Music; Play piano, enough to learn my part; Sang in numerous choirs (High School, College and Churches); Conducted Choral and Handbells pieces; Sang in Opera/Operetta Choruses; and I love music.
He then said, “Well, it looks like I don’t even really need to hear you sing. Do you have a piece that you want to sing for me?” I replied, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware of me auditioning today and I don’t have a piece.” He said, “That’s okay. Just sing, “Silent Night” He played a few notes and I was off. Of course, I wasn’t thinking of the fact that from the first note, it peaks at minor seventh higher, at the “Sleep in Heav-enly” part. It wasn’t until I started the second line “Holy Infant so…” that I realized, wow, he started me pretty high and I gave him the look like “This next note is going to be high”. He kinda just did a slight chuckle. However, I did accomplish that task and he said, “great job”. Then, he wanted to find my vocal range. I told him I was a baritone. So we were singing and if anyone has ever heard me warm up, my resonance doesn’t shine out on the low notes, it’s the high notes that is just bright and full. So, we’re started low and he just did the “so-fa-mi-re-do” on ‘Ah’ to determine my lower range. That was fine. The next thing was finding my upper range. So, he started with, “do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do” on ‘Ah’ again. I did that, and he was going up by whole steps (aside from E-F and B-C) to figure out how high I could go. It was crazy. My voice was so full that I heard a silence in the room next door where people literally stopped talking to listen. I felt awkward. But, I finished what I needed to finish and after he finished warming me up, he just said “Wow!” He even wrote that on the bottom of the audition form. I don’t know how high I went because I didn’t pay attention to the piano, but it had to be higher than middle E.
After that, I just told him, yeah, I feel bad because I come with a lot of experience, more than the average Joe. He said, “It’s all good”. He was excited after I finished and gave me a hug and that was that. It just ended with “Wow!” for me.
This is good right? I made it in? I just can’t wait to start singing. I’m so glad I found this group. Everyone is extremely nice and I cannot wait to start music with them. <3
Jackie
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