One of the more enjoyable classes I'm taking this semester is University Chorus, a non-auditioned choir of 60. If you wanna be a part of it, all you have to do is to sign up at the start of semester. Given the non-auditioned nature of the choir, I went in with very law expectations and a very high apprehension.
'There are gonna be jeremimis (check out his YouTube videos for the most horrifying experience of your life) and delusional freaks here! They're gonna ruin everything for everyone and their squealing will mean that I would never get to live out my Nun-Choir fantasies from Sister Act! Fuck!' This was a phrase that most certainly did not resonate in my head as I went for my first rehearsal.
Surprisingly, it was a really solid group. I guess the only people who would really sign up are those who have had some experience, and the bad ones would have figured out by Week 2 or so that they should just quietly sneak out before anyone catches on to their lip-syncing. Now I had never been in a choir before, having been really repulsed by the caliber of the choirs I've witnessed in Singapore. There are not many things that I wouldn't do, but swaying in beat and shamelessly harmonizing about being the 'Teacher's Pet' is definitely one of them. After all, one can only partake in that much faggotry before one's soul gets sucked away by a sparkly Cullen.
The endgame to our three-days-a-week rehearsals was the Mills Theatre Concert on the 25th of April. I realized too late that this seemingly docile 1-credit class was turning out to be a lot more work than I thought. To give you some perspective: my French class meets four times a week, just one time more than UChorus, and that's a four-fucking-credit class. Granted, everyone was already promised an A in UChorus, just as long as you show up to every rehearsal and perform in the concert.
The dress code for the concert was either full black or white and black, with an optional red-colored accessory (our school colors are red and white- ironic how I spend my life escaping Singapore and still ends up with a school that celebrates SG's national colors) of your picking. I went with the classic GAP white shirt, Levi's black pants. with a bright red skinny tie from Urban Outfitters. I emphasize on skinny because at this age, one really should not be attempting what I call the 'Daddy's Hand-me-down' ties. Embrace youth! The grandpa-ties only makes one look like a preteen playing dress-up with his uncle Oscar's unfitting clothes. But enough about my impeccable fashion, on with the concert.
Four months ago, I unknowingly and randomly just sat front and center on the risers. By chance, that area ended up being the basses' area, and I somehow got stuck there permanently. Fast forward to the concert, and boy am I rejoicing/regretting my decision. It feels super good walking in the front row onto the stage, where a theater full of audience members applaud your entrance. There I was, beaming at my adoring crowd and acknowledging that they were all there to see me (I had to pretend not to see some posters with the name ALYSSA on it), when I realized how exposed I was. Theoretically, I know that with the exception of the two people standing beside me, no one else would even know that I made a mistake, if I do make one, but I still felt supremely self conscious. My smile froze in place as my mind raced a mile a minute. 'Did I get the order of the songs right? What was the first note again? (Doooo..) Am I sweating? Look at those smug assholes in the first row, just waiting for me to mess up. Did I zip my pants?'
The order of the songs we performed:
- In The Beginning & The Heavens are Telling by Joseph Haydn with Orchestra
- When Again All These Rare Perfections Meet by Ross Lee Finney acapella
- Kyrie (Nelson-Messe) by Joseph Haydn with Orchestra
- In The Beginning of Creation by Daniel Pinkham with electronic tape
- Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi with Orchestra
You'd think if there were 60 other people up there with you, you wouldn't be nervous at all, but I still felt the familiar adrenaline vibrations pulsing through my veins. I was sure I could begin hovering in midair in a minute. I look up at Mike, our adorable conductor, and realized for the first time how crucial the role of a conductor was. They may not look like they're very useful when you're part of the audience, but when you're up there, he's the only one who's keeping time and giving you cues. That being said, a very attractive member of the orchestra caught my eye near the start of the concert and I missed half my cues. No biggie, I rather jump in late than be the only voice that started early.
The pieces with the orchestra were incredibly fun to do, but the real kicker was the Pinkham piece, with the electronic tape. I'm half serious when I say it's outta this world, because it sounds like something rejected from Lady Gaga's home planet for being too outrageously weird. Its like a bunch of strange electronic zips and zangles thrown together by someone clearly tone-deaf, and we have to make odd whispery chants over it. The audience's expressions were priceless, it was more like we were doing it just to see how freaked out they'd get. I threw in a couple of dark, snarling expressions for good measure as we whispered 'and the darkness, over the face of the abysssss' to our very frightened crowd. I'm sure some of them would have screamed if we decided to drop and crawl towards the audience at that point. I won't say that it's a triumphant vocal performance, but it definitely caught grabbed their attention by the balls in case they were drifting off.
As we rounded off the last note of Vivaldi's Gloria and soaked in the thunderous (you weren't there, so just accept that they went bat-shit crazy over us) applause, I said a cast a silent prayer to my good fortune. This is what being in a US college is all about, isn't it? Limitless opportunities, dizzying new experiences and just having a crazy, crazy good time. My love affair with the stage is far from over, we're only just getting started.
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