Vivat Libertas

So on Thursday, being the elitist pig I am at heart, I went off for a choral day at Merton College, Oxford. I have to admit I was quite worried about how long the journey would take beforehand - and it probably doesn't help that my dad insisted on accompanying (and embarrassing) me all the way to the bus to Oxford, which for those of you that don't know calls itself a Tube. Weird, I know. And there I was, sitting on a rumbly coach for an hour and a half, trying to avoid sleeping since I had my contact lenses in, trying even harder not to feel queasy sitting in a stuffy bus, and wondering just what the choral day would be like. As it turned out, I had to wait about another hour to find out because in my panic to not be late I'd arrived quite early - and that day Oxford was freezing cold. Still, I spent a good hour or so wandering round Oxford at an hour when it was still relatively quiet, admiring its beauty, and trying to warm my voice up by singing under my breath. ...

Have I mentioned that I really don't like children's choirs? Probably not, but here's an entire blog post dedicated to griping about them! It's odd, because from what I can gather quite a lot of people do  like children's choirs; they like to hear the little angels singing, to be a bit patronising and snarky about it. They like to hear the sound of innocence, I think - at least, that's what I would say if I wanted to sound pseudointellectual. You know what? I'll be perfectly honest: I don't know how people can stand children singing, let alone listen to them for fun! Does anyone mind enlightening me on this? I don't think it's necessarily technical proficiency, since some children aren't that good. I'm getting off the subject here, though...I've never really liked to hear children sing, as their voices are still immature; even the best child singers have a thinner tone compared with mature adult singers. (Incidentally, that's ...

Right, this is a subject I can actually talk about without looking like an idiot! At least, it's a subject I think  I can talk about without looking like an idiot...did a bit of theory, I sing a bit (passed my Grade 7 with distinction not too long ago) and I listen to a lot of music. Recently, while walking across Hampstead Heath, Linden Lea  (an art song by Ralph Vaughan Williams) popped into my head and I haven't been able to get it out of there since. So, being me, I went to look for it on youtube...and promptly ran into Sturgeon's Law in action. I don't think I've found a single solo version that I liked. (Hell, I even tried to sing it myself to get the general gist, but my voice is absolutely horrible so that failed.) You see, Linden Lea  is perhaps not the easiest of songs - finding a decent place to breathe is a bit difficult, for a start - but it's also not one that requires many fancy tricks or vocal shiny, which is what I see in a fair few of the rec...

Look, I know this post is fluff, but it's very  nice  fluff, OK? Anyway, right now it seems to be singing season - as it always is at the end of term. I've just had two rehearsals and a sort-of performance, which have worn me out. Then  I've got: A rehearsal on Thursday A performance on Saturday (it's for my school's Vis Day, which is basically Speech Day but with a posh name, and I've already signed up to do tug-of-war as well in a flash of house pride...oops) A performance on Sunday at the East Barnet Festival as part of a youth performing arts group (the last time I'll ever be there, unfortunately, since I'm leaving) An exam , of all things, on the 5th of July (my grade 6 exam...anyone fancy telling me how easy/hard it is to pass?) And last (but most definitely not least) I'm going on tour with my school choir for five days of rehearsal, performance and general horsing around (we're around Amboise from the 11th-15th of July, come see u...

And I didn't even get a lousy T-shirt! Just joking. It was actually an awesome day - we (the Really Big Chorus ) rehearsed and sang bits of The Peacemakers by Karl Jenkins , then (eee!) went and recorded it, conducted by the man himself! The pieces we did are musically quite simple - not much range - but oh my god they're so slow  - it was like a breath-holding contest, because at points it's almost impossible to do it all without taking a breath. I'm not bad at breathing, but this took the cake! Still, rehearsing was fun and the chords were amazing . Singing is much harder work than it looks, by the way - loads of effort had to be put into the pieces. Initially I was nervous because I'm 15 (not 16 or 18) and wondered if I might be kicked out, but nobody commented on my age - in fact, there were a couple of girls who looked about my age or younger - and I was even complimented on my singing! These people came from all over the country (and I even saw one sopra...