07 September 2014
Culture Shock
07/09/14 05:59
On Saturday we went to our third rehearsal for Rigoletto. Now the first couple of weeks we were working on phrasing. The first week we worked page by page, line by line, sorting out the melody and words, syllable by syllable. Last week we worked in longer passages, sometimes several pages at a time. She’d have the bass sing, then the middles, then sopranos, then all together. By the end of last week were really feeling good. It was coming together. This week we started out with more longer passages, more harmony with all the voices, just more of the same. It was sounding really good.
Then it all changed.
You see we were singing along. We’d been singing one of the faster passages:
Tut-to e gio-ia, tut-to e fe-sta, tut-to in-vi-ta-cia- go-de-re!
Oh guarda-te, non pa questa or la reg-gia del pia-ce-re!
Oh guarda-te, non pa questa or la reg-gia del pia-cer!
and it was going well. We were comfortable with the lyrics and the music was coming together. Our confidence was growing that we might actually be able to pull this off. Then after a good run the Choir Master said,
“OK that’s good. Now let’s do it full speed.”
What? We thought that WAS full speed. We were comfortable. It sounded good. Why mess with a good thing? But she insisted we needed to crank up the tempo. She gestured to the pianist who started playing alarmingly fast. We listened to the intro with increasing concern, but when we hit our queue we dove in:
Tuttoegioiatuttoefestatuttoinvitaciagodere!Ohguardatenonpaquestaorlareggiadelpiacere!Ohguardatenonpaquestaorlareggiadelpiacer!
Oh it was fast. Some of it felt like we were drowning but we gamely pushed on through. Just open your mouth and make noise, just make sure it was on key and sounded something like the right word. Oh, there were a few times we sang something like
Tuttoguacomolefestuscalizonewithsomepesto… or OhguardatecomeonletusCatalinadressing’sbestus… or even
Onmyentreeiscannellonikidneybeansandpatrimony…
But for the most part we were on tune and on time and that’s really what counts. I just kept reminding myself that nobody in the audience would know Italian either. The Choir Master even told us that the acting and tune were most important which was reassuring. After a few runs it even started to feel almost natural, in an adrenaline rush, roller coaster ride, running of the bulls kind of way. The words would come eventually and our confidence was returning. Then after the last run the Choir Master said. “That was very good. You are really getting it.”
She paused for effect and then added:
“Just be ready because next week the Director will be here and he goes REALLY fast.”
Oh goody.
The interesting thing is that the Choir Master has said several times that she understands that most of us don’t read music. Reading music is not required for this, so she said don’t sweat it. Then she’ll say something like “OK let’s start on the top of page 23 with the quarter note in the middle of the third stanza, second measure….and OK 1, 2, 3, go” and the piano plays and everyone will start singing. Meanwhile Marsha and I are like “What? Where?” Once I even got on the wrong page and sat out a whole passage because I had no idea what we were singing (I was on p23 rather than p43). But for the most part we’re hanging in there. Admittedly some sections are easier
than others
The other thing that surprised us the first time was when she had the pianist play the full score. Rather than just our melody she played what the orchestra will be playing, often a totally different, but complimentary, melody. Marsha and I were each bundles of confusion for a few seconds and then the light bulb came on and we understood what was happening. And in that realization we missed our queue to start singing.
It’s been a challenge. A lot of fun, but a challenge.
Then it all changed.
You see we were singing along. We’d been singing one of the faster passages:
Tut-to e gio-ia, tut-to e fe-sta, tut-to in-vi-ta-cia- go-de-re!
Oh guarda-te, non pa questa or la reg-gia del pia-ce-re!
Oh guarda-te, non pa questa or la reg-gia del pia-cer!
and it was going well. We were comfortable with the lyrics and the music was coming together. Our confidence was growing that we might actually be able to pull this off. Then after a good run the Choir Master said,
“OK that’s good. Now let’s do it full speed.”
What? We thought that WAS full speed. We were comfortable. It sounded good. Why mess with a good thing? But she insisted we needed to crank up the tempo. She gestured to the pianist who started playing alarmingly fast. We listened to the intro with increasing concern, but when we hit our queue we dove in:
Tuttoegioiatuttoefestatuttoinvitaciagodere!Ohguardatenonpaquestaorlareggiadelpiacere!Ohguardatenonpaquestaorlareggiadelpiacer!
Oh it was fast. Some of it felt like we were drowning but we gamely pushed on through. Just open your mouth and make noise, just make sure it was on key and sounded something like the right word. Oh, there were a few times we sang something like
Tuttoguacomolefestuscalizonewithsomepesto… or OhguardatecomeonletusCatalinadressing’sbestus… or even
Onmyentreeiscannellonikidneybeansandpatrimony…
But for the most part we were on tune and on time and that’s really what counts. I just kept reminding myself that nobody in the audience would know Italian either. The Choir Master even told us that the acting and tune were most important which was reassuring. After a few runs it even started to feel almost natural, in an adrenaline rush, roller coaster ride, running of the bulls kind of way. The words would come eventually and our confidence was returning. Then after the last run the Choir Master said. “That was very good. You are really getting it.”
She paused for effect and then added:
“Just be ready because next week the Director will be here and he goes REALLY fast.”
Oh goody.
The interesting thing is that the Choir Master has said several times that she understands that most of us don’t read music. Reading music is not required for this, so she said don’t sweat it. Then she’ll say something like “OK let’s start on the top of page 23 with the quarter note in the middle of the third stanza, second measure….and OK 1, 2, 3, go” and the piano plays and everyone will start singing. Meanwhile Marsha and I are like “What? Where?” Once I even got on the wrong page and sat out a whole passage because I had no idea what we were singing (I was on p23 rather than p43). But for the most part we’re hanging in there. Admittedly some sections are easier
than others
The other thing that surprised us the first time was when she had the pianist play the full score. Rather than just our melody she played what the orchestra will be playing, often a totally different, but complimentary, melody. Marsha and I were each bundles of confusion for a few seconds and then the light bulb came on and we understood what was happening. And in that realization we missed our queue to start singing.
It’s been a challenge. A lot of fun, but a challenge.