Sing We Merrily on High

On Friday, I auditioned for some soprano solo parts of the American Choral Director's Association Messiah Sing here. They'd asked for us to come in with a piece from the work, and I walked in with "Rejoice Greatly", an air (aria) that's filled with all kinds of melismas (all the fast little notes.)

At my voice lesson last week, I learned that I'd been adding extra notes in many of the melismas. I think this is because I learned the piece when I was in college, and my voice had a tremolo then -- a really fast vibrato that is due, at least in part, to throat tension. (Thanks to a few Amazing voice teachers, my vibrato is now normal, and, man, am I grateful!) So I spent several hours in the practice rooms last week, taking the piece completely apart and singing the melismas on staccato notes. My abs certainly got a workout! Happily, by the time I got to the audition, everything was sitting much better in my voice.

The audition went well :) They asked me to sing a couple of the recits -- "There were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying" These are the preludes to the chorus's "Glory to God". I adore this part of the work. Every year, as I sit next to my family at church on Christmas Eve, I have this insatiable longing to sing those recits as the pastor reads that very text from scripture. It just seems so much better to me, so much more expressive and joyous, with Handel's music carrying it along.

Anyway, today, I received an email congratulating me on getting the parts! I'm SO EXCITED!! The concert comes right after my crazy busy first week in December, and I'm sure there will be rehearsals which will add to the flurry, but that's okay. I just hope I can sing this incredible piece with all the joy and delight it merits.

~Hope