Schreiber (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
choco_frosh) wrote2017-03-19 12:27 pm
choco_frosh) wrote2017-03-19 12:27 pm
Realm: Choir - Subrealm: 2 reasons why I'm not singing bass
Well, this is boring.
I'm sick.
The really stupid thing is, I'm not even sure with what. Obvious possibilities run from "Coming down with a weird version of the 'flu" to "Ate too many carbohydrates too late at night while not drinking enough water", with "Discovered the precise toxicity of the active ingredient in asparagus" also making a strong showing. (Honestly, though, the most likely explanation is "My leftovers gave my food poisoning.")
Whichever way, I got up feeling just plain terrible, but chalked it up to the fact that I was getting up even earlier than usual, in order once again to allow for transportation difficulties from a snowpacalypse that once again hadn't happened. And I figured I'd feel better with the passage of time. But when I got to church I was still feeling awful, and started to feel dizzy as well as mildly nauseous in the course of choir practice/warmup. So I skedaddled before church, and went home to drink a bunch of fluids, see if I need to vomit (No), and try to take a nap. Now I'm at the stage where I'm not sure whether I still feel lousy because of the whatever-it-is, or simply because I haven't eaten properly in eighteen hours.
Church, of course, was going to be a little weird in any case, because I was going to be singing alto.
Yes, you heard correctly.
This actually started a couple of weeks ago, on a day when I was also attending a trans* rights rally,* but when choir featured
1) a shortage of altos
2) a superfluity of basses, and
3) a piece that I last sang during the brief period when alto was my natural voice part.**
But we keep having the Alto Shortage,*** so I'm probably going to stick with countertenor for a bit.
"So you've tried tenor, you've tried bass, and now you're doing alto..." remarked one of the soprano section. "Are you going to try soprano next?"
I pointed out that my alto sounds dubious enough; hitting high G's is Right Out.
* Of which I meant to write a review, although Sovay did a better one than I could, and apparently spotted more of the cool signs. (The ones that said "High school sucks enough without transphobia" were pretty excellent.)
** I occasionally describe myself these days as a Bargain Counter Tenor: I'm not the world's greatest musician, but I have... yeesh, nearly thirty years' experience; and I'm more-or-less a baritone, but I have a good falsetto and can hit some of the lower bass notes if I'm properly warmed up, so while I usually prefer tenor I can (and currently do) sing bass, and both of the CotA Alto section are now gunning to have me sing countertenor some more. Apparently this doesn't sound as horrible as I've always assumed.
*** BTW, director: what's UP with that? I've been in plenty of places with a perpetual tenor shortage, and sang bass for a while at Yale 'cause the YIS had a bass shortage, and I can at least imagine a scenario where you couldn't find enough qualified sopranos. But altos? Didn't you just jilt a couple of them at the beginning of the year? I mean, I *get* that you want to have a choir entirely composed of people who are actually competent, but now you have me singing a voice part I haven't even looked at in 20+ years.
I'm sick.
The really stupid thing is, I'm not even sure with what. Obvious possibilities run from "Coming down with a weird version of the 'flu" to "Ate too many carbohydrates too late at night while not drinking enough water", with "Discovered the precise toxicity of the active ingredient in asparagus" also making a strong showing. (Honestly, though, the most likely explanation is "My leftovers gave my food poisoning.")
Whichever way, I got up feeling just plain terrible, but chalked it up to the fact that I was getting up even earlier than usual, in order once again to allow for transportation difficulties from a snowpacalypse that once again hadn't happened. And I figured I'd feel better with the passage of time. But when I got to church I was still feeling awful, and started to feel dizzy as well as mildly nauseous in the course of choir practice/warmup. So I skedaddled before church, and went home to drink a bunch of fluids, see if I need to vomit (No), and try to take a nap. Now I'm at the stage where I'm not sure whether I still feel lousy because of the whatever-it-is, or simply because I haven't eaten properly in eighteen hours.
Church, of course, was going to be a little weird in any case, because I was going to be singing alto.
Yes, you heard correctly.
This actually started a couple of weeks ago, on a day when I was also attending a trans* rights rally,* but when choir featured
1) a shortage of altos
2) a superfluity of basses, and
3) a piece that I last sang during the brief period when alto was my natural voice part.**
But we keep having the Alto Shortage,*** so I'm probably going to stick with countertenor for a bit.
"So you've tried tenor, you've tried bass, and now you're doing alto..." remarked one of the soprano section. "Are you going to try soprano next?"
I pointed out that my alto sounds dubious enough; hitting high G's is Right Out.
* Of which I meant to write a review, although Sovay did a better one than I could, and apparently spotted more of the cool signs. (The ones that said "High school sucks enough without transphobia" were pretty excellent.)
** I occasionally describe myself these days as a Bargain Counter Tenor: I'm not the world's greatest musician, but I have... yeesh, nearly thirty years' experience; and I'm more-or-less a baritone, but I have a good falsetto and can hit some of the lower bass notes if I'm properly warmed up, so while I usually prefer tenor I can (and currently do) sing bass, and both of the CotA Alto section are now gunning to have me sing countertenor some more. Apparently this doesn't sound as horrible as I've always assumed.
*** BTW, director: what's UP with that? I've been in plenty of places with a perpetual tenor shortage, and sang bass for a while at Yale 'cause the YIS had a bass shortage, and I can at least imagine a scenario where you couldn't find enough qualified sopranos. But altos? Didn't you just jilt a couple of them at the beginning of the year? I mean, I *get* that you want to have a choir entirely composed of people who are actually competent, but now you have me singing a voice part I haven't even looked at in 20+ years.
no subject
+1.
*hugs*
Feel better.