They Will Come

A month has already passed since our first recital rehearsal. It is time for our second Second Saturday rehearsal. I arrive early to set up and run through the music one last time to ensure that I am prepared. At five minutes before start time, there are only a handful of people there. One of the singers worries that it will be slim pickings. But I assure her that they will come.

I wonder that I have so much faith, but the choir has never let me down, even when I am asking more of them than usual. How fortunate I am to have such dedicated people to work with! I know full well how difficult it is to drag yourself out early on a Saturday morning for two hours of working on music that you may not even like. I try to make it as painless as possible, and to build in moments of fun and laughing.

I know they take pride in singing well, and that they may even appreciate the opportunity to get in a little more practice. And I did move the time from afternoon to morning at their request. Somehow I thought they might prefer to sleep in, but turns out they have plans and want time to do other things as well.

What a great group of people! Sure enough, at the stroke of 9am, the chairs were full and we began with stretching, humming, lip trills, yahming and zinga zinga zooing. Today's plan is to work on as much of the repertoire as possible, and by end of rehearsal to have looked at all pieces except one. My hope is that by January rehearsal, we will have worked on all the pieces and have plenty of time to fine tune.

Stay tuned for more on the recital - meanwhile, save March 6, 2011, Sunday at 3pm. We will then explore the Lord's Prayer through music together. Now, back to Tavener.