Our director, Mrs. Brumley, isn't exclusive to the Master Chorale. She's also been the director of a community choir called the South Texas Chorale for the past 20 years. Today was her farewell concert with that choir. Sadly, no director has stepped up to take her place, so this was also the farewell concert for the South Texas Chorale.
After TMEA, she made the announcement to us that she was leaving STC but made sure we knew she wasn't leaving our choir (she loves that job too much).
Today's concert was mainly Mozart's Requiem which is all in Latin and about a 40 minute work (and we learned it in about a month and still had to help STC though they'd been working with the requiem since January). It's similar to Handel's Messiah in that there are individual songs that make up the whole work, aren't usually performed in its entirety and have at least one very famous part. Apart from that, we opened with "Surely The Lord Is In This Place," then after the requiem, we did "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and closed with our traditional benediction, "The Lord Bless You and Keep You," which had the STC and Mrs. Brumley in tears.
It was definitely special seeing Mrs. Brumley end her tenure with the STC and made me even more grateful to have her stay with us. It made me both dread and look forward to the next concert (April 17) where they'll recognize the graduating seniors (the boy and another friend). I'll definitely cry during "The Lord Bless You.." at that concert.
I had Tina record the hymns and the benediction from the balcony:
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
My night
Might have to raise your volume.
(And excuse the partial vocal cracks/pitchiness...he was the most nervous I've ever seen him...even more than singing in front of thousands at TMEA.)
(And excuse the partial vocal cracks/pitchiness...he was the most nervous I've ever seen him...even more than singing in front of thousands at TMEA.)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A sign
I decided to not go to my one class today (my dark circles had bags and those bags had bags) so I slept in a little. It wasn't until my dad busted into my room, all nervous and holding his bow tie, needing me to help him with it that I realized it was dreaming...and it wasn't exactly my favorite dream. But boy, was it real!
I guess I and the rest of my friends, mostly choir people, were in San Antonio and staying at a hotel similar to the TMEA situation where we were all kind of "neighbors." There was a rumor going on in the dream that there were people being killed in the hotel but no body would be found, they'd just disappear. We didn't think anything of it until me and two other girls were walking down the hallway to our rooms and bumped into another girl from our group. She said hi to the two other girls but not to me. I thought it was weird but didn't question it until we got to a mirror that was on the wall next to the elevator. I could see perfect reflections of the two girls but mine was distorted, almost like I was transparent. I moved around to see if it was just a spot on the mirror or something but it wasn't. I knew I'd been killed somehow and was now just a ghost. No one knew I was there because they couldn't see me and I guess they thought I was somewhere else.
I just sat there, right where I was, and cried and cried. I mourned all the things I was to become and all the opportunities lost, the fact that I'd never graduate from college, never get married, be truly intimate with someone I loved, never have kids, etc. It just felt too soon, so much so that part of me denied the fact that I was dead. I decided to find my parents and my friends to tell them- if I could. How could they hear or talk to me if I wasn't visible, just a silent presence? For some reason, I never found my sisters but I found my parents. I tried talking in a whisper- I guess out of nervousness and being so emotional- and that didn't work; they didn't hear a thing. Then I tried talking louder, almost screaming and my mom heard me. She didn't know how to react when she heard me saying "Mom!" She knew it was me but didn't know where my voice was coming from. I suddenly felt like there was a time limit to how long I could communicate with her, so I just yelled "I love you." She smiled and kept doing whatever it was she was doing. My dad, who had been sitting and reading next to her, didn't hear a thing. For some reason, I exhaled through my mouth, blowing towards him like you do as you exercise. The small breath turned into a big gust of wind and I could see his collar flapping and his hair moving. It was like if I tried hard enough I could be responsible for a hurricane. I could tell he knew something- someONE- was trying to tell him something but my mom was sure to fill him in on what she'd heard. I left, feeling only just a little bit accomplished. I didn't want to even try to tell them the little more I knew because I didn't want to make them sad.
I kept walking down the hall to a room that ended up being a restaurant/bar in the hotel. I looked around to see if I knew anyone and only one face was familiar. Now, honestly, would you be surprised if I said it was the boy? I think not. So yeah, it was him. He was sitting there alone, eating something. I sat on the stool next to him and just looked at him. I was sad for anything that could have been but mostly that I'd never gotten up the courage to fully tell him everything. In that moment I had nothing more than admiration, respect and love for him. Then, as if in a movie, he looked to his right, where I was sitting and looked straight at me. I remembered that people couldn't see me anymore so I figured he was looking through and past where I was. But then he looked me straight in the eye and said "There you are!" like he'd been expecting me.
Then my dad busted into my room needing help with his bow tie and I woke up. I knew I didn't need any kind of dream dictionary or to question whether this dream had meaning to it. I don't know when or where, but I'm going to tell him. This is definitely a sign.
I guess I and the rest of my friends, mostly choir people, were in San Antonio and staying at a hotel similar to the TMEA situation where we were all kind of "neighbors." There was a rumor going on in the dream that there were people being killed in the hotel but no body would be found, they'd just disappear. We didn't think anything of it until me and two other girls were walking down the hallway to our rooms and bumped into another girl from our group. She said hi to the two other girls but not to me. I thought it was weird but didn't question it until we got to a mirror that was on the wall next to the elevator. I could see perfect reflections of the two girls but mine was distorted, almost like I was transparent. I moved around to see if it was just a spot on the mirror or something but it wasn't. I knew I'd been killed somehow and was now just a ghost. No one knew I was there because they couldn't see me and I guess they thought I was somewhere else.
I just sat there, right where I was, and cried and cried. I mourned all the things I was to become and all the opportunities lost, the fact that I'd never graduate from college, never get married, be truly intimate with someone I loved, never have kids, etc. It just felt too soon, so much so that part of me denied the fact that I was dead. I decided to find my parents and my friends to tell them- if I could. How could they hear or talk to me if I wasn't visible, just a silent presence? For some reason, I never found my sisters but I found my parents. I tried talking in a whisper- I guess out of nervousness and being so emotional- and that didn't work; they didn't hear a thing. Then I tried talking louder, almost screaming and my mom heard me. She didn't know how to react when she heard me saying "Mom!" She knew it was me but didn't know where my voice was coming from. I suddenly felt like there was a time limit to how long I could communicate with her, so I just yelled "I love you." She smiled and kept doing whatever it was she was doing. My dad, who had been sitting and reading next to her, didn't hear a thing. For some reason, I exhaled through my mouth, blowing towards him like you do as you exercise. The small breath turned into a big gust of wind and I could see his collar flapping and his hair moving. It was like if I tried hard enough I could be responsible for a hurricane. I could tell he knew something- someONE- was trying to tell him something but my mom was sure to fill him in on what she'd heard. I left, feeling only just a little bit accomplished. I didn't want to even try to tell them the little more I knew because I didn't want to make them sad.
I kept walking down the hall to a room that ended up being a restaurant/bar in the hotel. I looked around to see if I knew anyone and only one face was familiar. Now, honestly, would you be surprised if I said it was the boy? I think not. So yeah, it was him. He was sitting there alone, eating something. I sat on the stool next to him and just looked at him. I was sad for anything that could have been but mostly that I'd never gotten up the courage to fully tell him everything. In that moment I had nothing more than admiration, respect and love for him. Then, as if in a movie, he looked to his right, where I was sitting and looked straight at me. I remembered that people couldn't see me anymore so I figured he was looking through and past where I was. But then he looked me straight in the eye and said "There you are!" like he'd been expecting me.
Then my dad busted into my room needing help with his bow tie and I woke up. I knew I didn't need any kind of dream dictionary or to question whether this dream had meaning to it. I don't know when or where, but I'm going to tell him. This is definitely a sign.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Just for craps and giggles
Just about every time someone sees me doing my makeup, they ask "How do you do that?!" asking about my eyeliner. (*ahem*, Kim at the last convention) I've always said I'd keep an eye out for a good example or just show you all myself, so I finally found one.
I'll probably eventually get my YT account up and running and show you myself for real but this is almost exactly how I do it. This is almost exactly the way I do my whole face (other than the lashes...those are just for special occasions).
I'll probably eventually get my YT account up and running and show you myself for real but this is almost exactly how I do it. This is almost exactly the way I do my whole face (other than the lashes...those are just for special occasions).
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
A month later
Think of this as the sequel to my last post.
It's almost a month exactly from our TMEA concert and we're still getting letters, e-mails and huge compliments. Our director is still riding the high and so are we. She told us about how she went to Houston to clinic a choir there and as soon as she got off the plane, her friend and another choir director gushed about the concert before even saying hello. Apparently we were the talk of the convention.
Some of you (*ahem* Kim) were asking about a video of the actual performance and this is the best I can do as of now. We ordered CD/DVDs of the actual performance but those won't be in until next month at the earliest. There are no Youtube videos of the performance as TMEA has a strict copyright rule against taking video during performances.
The following videos were made by the media team that tagged along with us on our trip. They're in order as you'll see. Some of the videos show us singing, so it's a taste of the DVD I'll eventually get. (Mallows, should I bring the DVD to the conv.? Is that dumb? haha)
...oh, and I cut my hair...again.
It's almost a month exactly from our TMEA concert and we're still getting letters, e-mails and huge compliments. Our director is still riding the high and so are we. She told us about how she went to Houston to clinic a choir there and as soon as she got off the plane, her friend and another choir director gushed about the concert before even saying hello. Apparently we were the talk of the convention.
Some of you (*ahem* Kim) were asking about a video of the actual performance and this is the best I can do as of now. We ordered CD/DVDs of the actual performance but those won't be in until next month at the earliest. There are no Youtube videos of the performance as TMEA has a strict copyright rule against taking video during performances.
The following videos were made by the media team that tagged along with us on our trip. They're in order as you'll see. Some of the videos show us singing, so it's a taste of the DVD I'll eventually get. (Mallows, should I bring the DVD to the conv.? Is that dumb? haha)
...oh, and I cut my hair...again.
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