[Magdalen] A great sadness

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

It's generally not a matter of giving up singing so much as giving up a
particular type.  I loved the musical excellence of the group I've left.
It was the only place where we could rehearse a piece and after a couple of
run-throughs, it was all just a matter of very fine tweaking of matters of
style and phrasing.  Everyone's sight-reading is superb; everyone's sense
of musical style is high level; everyone has an excellent sense of pitch.

I loved that we did not ever sit through several minutes while the director
explained to a section (and then another!) how to sing their parts. I was
in a choir of this type where a fellow bass was almost belligerent in his
pride of not being able to read music. He had no idea what a burden he
placed on the rest of the section, and he got annoyed when corrected. I
don't sing with that choir anymore. The choir director is the soul of
patience.  I am not sympathetic; reading music is not rocket science at all.

I now attend a smaller parish where a few folks rehearse every thursday
evening. My arrangement is to come to the church about fifteen minutes
before the service and review the music.  I don't attend the rehearsals and
I don't vest. Our musical selections are generally pretty basic. I've done
with vesting and rehearsals. Perhaps when I'm older and don't read so well,
I'll return to rehearsals, but I suspect I'll just sit in the pews. I
always have enjoyed just sitting in the pews and singing. More often than
not the hymns are at least decent. The 1940 and 1982 have good voice
leading in the parts, which makes them very enjoyable to sing.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 9:10 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
>
> In a message dated 2/5/2016 12:18:17 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com writes:
>
> Well,  that one more
> season is now past, and it's time to let a younger guy hit  the very low
> notes...>>>>>>
>
> Even the great Joan Sutherland retired from singing at 60.  So did
> Leontyne Price.  I was well acquainted with several singers who  hung
> on into their later years with worsening vibratos you could drive a  Mack
> Truck through.  This is not the way I wanted to go.
>
>
>
>