The Beauty of the Human Voice

So it's been a while! There's a reason for this though. I have been rehearsing for a concert at college: The Beauty of the Human Voice. After hearing the chorus at college go from strength to strength, I had the idea to prepare a concert that used only the Waterfront Theatre School Chorus (2010). We would cut out any theatrical tricks in the presentation of this concert, and just prepare an everning of choral work. The first challenge was getting the chorus to commit to a rigorous rehearsal schedule. It turned out not to be a challenge at all. Some of the chorus members could not do the concert (due to other commitments), but fourteen of them committed to the rehearsal process.

Rehearsals were scheduled for 7am in the morning! Now for those of you who do not sing: it is VERY DIFFICULT to sing at 7am in the morning - especially if the choir leader is a bit of a sadist! But they pitched up everyday. Bitching and moaning..... Blankets, coffee, food...... Germandt.... Robz missing in action..... And despite all this, we got through a MOUNTAIN of work, and we had THE MOST FUN! As in every group, there is conflict between members, but the Chorus of 2010 are a supportive, enthusiastic, talented, hungry, loud GROUP of students. They even forgave me for missing one rehearsal: I overslept....

We had 3 performances. My chorus was AMAZING! Not only did they sing technically well, but they were AMAZINGLY MUSICAL! One does not often hear a group of singers who are MUSICAL together! They were so in tune with each other and myself, that every performance was different. Although dynamics had been planned and rehearesed, phrasing had been decided upon, tempi were rehearsed and endings were counted, none of this was done as planned. We tuned into each other as a group so intensely, that decisions were made while we were performing....TOGETHER! It was a beautiful experience. You guys are AMAZING!

This is what this blog is about: my AMAZING chorus. They sang well, they looked beautiful, they performed! In my eyes, none of this made them amazing to me. I believe that I have the most AMAZING chorus because of what they did for me on the last night.

My closest friend asked me a while ago whether I liked surprises. My immediate response was NO! But it made me think about why I said NO! After much thought, I gave a different response. I said that I have become immune to experiencing the excitement of surprises, because nobody ever surprises me!

So on closing night I knew that the chorus would thank me. I thought they'd probably do the typical wine and/or flowers..... I knew I would appreciate it. They didn't! Robz and Germz got up at the end of the concert and said a few lovely words about me. They then presented me with a framed copy of an enlarged photograph of the chorus. WOW! That was a surprise! It was special, because they had put some thought into buying me a gift! I LOVE IT! One of the soloists wrote me a letter and presented it to me accompanied by expensive chocolates and indigenous flowers! I felt like royalty (a queen!). It was a REALLY SPECIAL thank you!

So we started packing up and getting ready to go home, when Robz again came to fetch me. They then opened a chilled bottle of PINK champagne (they know me too well) and toasted me (I'm getting all smokey eyed now) and gave me an envelope. The envelope was hand made, and it looked pregnant! Needless to say, I was very curious to see what was inside. So as soon as I had packed all the equipment into my car, I opened it. Inside there were letters from each and every chorus member: they had hand written their Thank Yous to me individually. That is AMAZING! I'm sitting on my bed right now, and the envelope is right next to me! I shall keep it FOREVER!!! Please indulge me for a little while longer. These are personal letters that were written for my eyes only, but I am going to take the liberty of publishing just one line of each letter, so those of you who read this can have a glimpse of the most special thing that ANY group of people has EVER done for me.

You are one special man! Love you lots
You inspire me, and I learn so much from you.
...would always like to have you as a part of my life.
Thank you for being a caring teacher.
You have brought us together through music.
You taught me how not to be afraid...
I'm going to miss laughing and crying in my tuts
Thank you for being the most hilarious, temperamental, understanding but "take no nonsense" and "never settle for less" person that you are
the confidence you gave me has changed my outlook on my career
I appreciate you more than you'll ever know
encouraging me to give a little more step by step
giving me self-belief to broadcast my 'loud' voice to the world 

So now I'm crying again! Thank you!! My first REAL SURPRISE in years, and truly beautiful sentiments! I feel so loved.....