Last Sunday I decided to attend the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's performance of Johannes Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem. This is not a review of the performance, exactly. It's more my impressions from the performance. The PSO has not asked me to do this, and in fact they might well be horrified if they knew I was writing this, but there you are.
This is a post about performance anxiety. Specifically the performance anxiety, apparently, of one of the singers in the group, who for obvious reasons shall remain nameless. The picture at left was chosen because supposedly the number one fear people have is the fear of public speaking. Apparently public singing comes in a close second.
I took this picture in Nice, France, because it seemed like the right thing to do. I liked the idea of a sort of modern-day troubador offering his or her (or their) services for baptisms and so on. You don't get a lot of call in the US for special music for a baptism, and I thought perhaps we could start a trend. So if you want singers for your baptism (or your child's, or any other person for that matter) then you know where to call. No, not the number in the picture—call 412-421-5884.
Gail Luley sent me the following link to a post on the "On Being Blog", called "Sacred Choral Music in Worship Has a Power All Its Own." One of the reasons she thought it might interest me is because it was written by Michael McGlynn, who wrote one of the pieces we performed on the Christmas concert, "The Wild Song."
Yesterday as I strolled along a street in Antibes an ambulance drove down a nearby street. It may, of course, have actually been a fire truck. I couldn't see it. But I could certainly hear it. And I noticed something that I had never noticed before - what exactly it is that makes the sound so annoying.
...and as you can see, I've given up on the Twelve Posts of Christmas. But in honor of the New Year I'm sharing several verses of Noel Nouvelet, or Sing We New Christmas. Here is Verse 3, as follows:
Hmm, we'll all be lucky (at least, if you like these things) if I manage the Two Posts of Christmas, but at any rate, here's the Patridge in a Pear Tree.
My last blog entry was a general thanks to the singers and board members of the Camerata. If you want to know why, read the next item down. But there are a few people that I wish to thank more specifically, so here goes.
Last Sunday I decided to attend the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's performance of Johannes Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem. This is not a review of the performance, exactly. It's more my impressions from the performance. The PSO has not asked me to do this, and in fact they might well be horrified if they knew I was writing this, but there you are.
This is a post about performance anxiety. Specifically the performance anxiety, apparently, of one of the singers in the group, who for obvious reasons shall remain nameless. The picture at left was chosen because supposedly the number one fear people have is the fear of public speaking. Apparently public singing comes in a close second.
I took this picture in Nice, France, because it seemed like the right thing to do. I liked the idea of a sort of modern-day troubador offering his or her (or their) services for baptisms and so on. You don't get a lot of call in the US for special music for a baptism, and I thought perhaps we could start a trend. So if you want singers for your baptism (or your child's, or any other person for that matter) then you know where to call. No, not the number in the picture—call 412-421-5884.
Gail Luley sent me the following link to a post on the "On Being Blog", called 
Yesterday as I strolled along a street in Antibes an ambulance drove down a nearby street. It may, of course, have actually been a fire truck. I couldn't see it. But I could certainly hear it. And I noticed something that I had never noticed before - what exactly it is that makes the sound so annoying. 
...and as you can see, I've given up on the Twelve Posts of Christmas. But in honor of the New Year I'm sharing several verses of Noel Nouvelet, or Sing We New Christmas. 
Here is the first of the promised links for some music from last year's Christmas concert.
Hmm, we'll all be lucky (at least, if you like these things) if I manage the Two Posts of Christmas, but at any rate, here's the Patridge in a Pear Tree.
My last blog entry was a general thanks to the singers and board members of the Camerata. If you want to know why, read the next item down. But there are a few people that I wish to thank more specifically, so here goes.
