all things shall perish
Sep. 13th, 2007 04:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanSorry to be spamming you all of a sudden. Just a lot of stuff that has been piling up that I've been wanting to write about but not having the time/energy. Not that I have much time/energy right now either....
Anyway, this past Monday was the first rehearsal of our chorus for the fall cycle. As some of you may know/recall, my mom and I have been part of this community chorus for a very long time -- since its very first year, in fact, about 16 years ago when my teenage self dragged my mom along to the first meeting of a newly-forming chorus that was going to perform Handel's "Messiah." All these years later, we're still part of it -- my mom is very closely involved in the administrative stuff, and me, well, about all I can manage these days is a couple of rehearsals and usually an appearance in the concert. (For the "Messiah," I can get away with only going to a couple rehearsals because I know the piece forward and backwards and upside down, and William, our music director, knows it. So I get special dispensation.) But it feels like home. Many of the other members of the chorus (who come from all ages, colors, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc.) have practically watched me grow up, and it's like a family. Going to the rehearsals, especially the first one of the fall after having the summer off, is like going to a big family reunion.
This year will be the last year that William directs/conducts the chorus. For personal and medical reasons, he's retiring after this year. It's a very bittersweet thing for pretty much everyone. William isn't perfect, of course, but he's really an amazing human being and has done awesome things with this chorus (not to mention with the teenagers he teaches as his "day job"). He's absolutely one of a kind, and everyone talking about the search for a new music director for the chorus has been careful not to use the term "replace" because William is, quite frankly, irreplaceable. It's definitely not going to be the same without him.
So, because of all that, I felt like I really wanted to participate this year, more than I have in past years. This week I hired my mom's coworker Kara to babysit so I could at least go to the first rehearsal (and answer the question "how are the kids? where are the kids?" approximately one billion times). It was really good to go. I felt like my throat had atrophied and the little bit of singing we did in the rehearsal opened it back up again. And it wasn't just my throat. It was like a part of my being opening up again, if you know what I mean, if that's not too cheesy. Having music in my life is so important.
But it's also troublesome. Kara is absolutely wonderful with the kids, they adore her...but she charges $12 an hour, which is average for this area, and at four hours a night (rehearsal is three hours, plus padding) that's basically $50 a week, which I don't really have to spend. So I was debating what to do. In the past, our family friend Sally has babysat for free, but before this week's rehearsal I left her several phone messages and she didn't return them, so, well, can't exactly count on her. There was some discussion of a babysitter-share with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pekmez and zubatac, but that's complicated too because rehearsals go past our kids' bedtimes and that means that someone ends up having to take a sleeping/sleepy child (or two) home.
Kara just sent me an email saying that she'd be willing to discuss alternate financial arrangements for her to be our regular Monday-night babysitter so I can go to the rehearsals. It's very sweet of her! I guess she figures, it's only a couple hours of actual "work," and it's fun, and once the kids go to bed she's just sitting around watching Monday Night Football, which she would be doing at home anyway ;) and it would be a nice, consistent, steady source of extra income for her. So, I'm not sure exactly what she has in mind but it's really nice of her to offer and I hope we can work something out. Aside from the value that music has in my life, there's also a lot to be said for one night per week of social contact with other adults.
Speaking of the value of music, also, I'm thinking of trying to bring Isaac to the concert(s) this year. He is very interested in classical music, and I think he might be at the point where he can sit quietly for it. Maybe. I'm not sure, but I'd like to try -- especially with "Messiah," which is a piece of music that holds a very special place in my heart and that I'd love to introduce him to. So, I'm thinking of seeing if I can find someone who'll bring him to the concert and be prepared to take him away if necessary. Of course, that would mean I'd have to find a whole separate babysitter for Ruthie, but well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, I guess.
Meanwhile, the music for the fall and spring concerts (we do a smaller, pared-down concert in the fall, like a warmup, and then the full version of that same stuff in the spring) is Haydn's "Harmony Mass" and Samuel Coleridge Taylor's "Hiawatha's Wedding," which we've done before. Good stuff. I ought get myself a recording of those pieces.
Anyway, this past Monday was the first rehearsal of our chorus for the fall cycle. As some of you may know/recall, my mom and I have been part of this community chorus for a very long time -- since its very first year, in fact, about 16 years ago when my teenage self dragged my mom along to the first meeting of a newly-forming chorus that was going to perform Handel's "Messiah." All these years later, we're still part of it -- my mom is very closely involved in the administrative stuff, and me, well, about all I can manage these days is a couple of rehearsals and usually an appearance in the concert. (For the "Messiah," I can get away with only going to a couple rehearsals because I know the piece forward and backwards and upside down, and William, our music director, knows it. So I get special dispensation.) But it feels like home. Many of the other members of the chorus (who come from all ages, colors, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc.) have practically watched me grow up, and it's like a family. Going to the rehearsals, especially the first one of the fall after having the summer off, is like going to a big family reunion.
This year will be the last year that William directs/conducts the chorus. For personal and medical reasons, he's retiring after this year. It's a very bittersweet thing for pretty much everyone. William isn't perfect, of course, but he's really an amazing human being and has done awesome things with this chorus (not to mention with the teenagers he teaches as his "day job"). He's absolutely one of a kind, and everyone talking about the search for a new music director for the chorus has been careful not to use the term "replace" because William is, quite frankly, irreplaceable. It's definitely not going to be the same without him.
So, because of all that, I felt like I really wanted to participate this year, more than I have in past years. This week I hired my mom's coworker Kara to babysit so I could at least go to the first rehearsal (and answer the question "how are the kids? where are the kids?" approximately one billion times). It was really good to go. I felt like my throat had atrophied and the little bit of singing we did in the rehearsal opened it back up again. And it wasn't just my throat. It was like a part of my being opening up again, if you know what I mean, if that's not too cheesy. Having music in my life is so important.
But it's also troublesome. Kara is absolutely wonderful with the kids, they adore her...but she charges $12 an hour, which is average for this area, and at four hours a night (rehearsal is three hours, plus padding) that's basically $50 a week, which I don't really have to spend. So I was debating what to do. In the past, our family friend Sally has babysat for free, but before this week's rehearsal I left her several phone messages and she didn't return them, so, well, can't exactly count on her. There was some discussion of a babysitter-share with
pekmez and zubatac, but that's complicated too because rehearsals go past our kids' bedtimes and that means that someone ends up having to take a sleeping/sleepy child (or two) home.Kara just sent me an email saying that she'd be willing to discuss alternate financial arrangements for her to be our regular Monday-night babysitter so I can go to the rehearsals. It's very sweet of her! I guess she figures, it's only a couple hours of actual "work," and it's fun, and once the kids go to bed she's just sitting around watching Monday Night Football, which she would be doing at home anyway ;) and it would be a nice, consistent, steady source of extra income for her. So, I'm not sure exactly what she has in mind but it's really nice of her to offer and I hope we can work something out. Aside from the value that music has in my life, there's also a lot to be said for one night per week of social contact with other adults.
Speaking of the value of music, also, I'm thinking of trying to bring Isaac to the concert(s) this year. He is very interested in classical music, and I think he might be at the point where he can sit quietly for it. Maybe. I'm not sure, but I'd like to try -- especially with "Messiah," which is a piece of music that holds a very special place in my heart and that I'd love to introduce him to. So, I'm thinking of seeing if I can find someone who'll bring him to the concert and be prepared to take him away if necessary. Of course, that would mean I'd have to find a whole separate babysitter for Ruthie, but well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, I guess.
Meanwhile, the music for the fall and spring concerts (we do a smaller, pared-down concert in the fall, like a warmup, and then the full version of that same stuff in the spring) is Haydn's "Harmony Mass" and Samuel Coleridge Taylor's "Hiawatha's Wedding," which we've done before. Good stuff. I ought get myself a recording of those pieces.
