Singin' and Drivin'

I'm still not going to fill you in on the details of my weekend in D.C., 'cause I just got home from rehearsal and I'm exhausted.

Tonight was the first rehearsal of the Blossom Festival Chorus for this season. Betsy Burleigh is the assistant conductor and handles the rehearsals up until Conductor's Piano Rehearsal. The first concert, at Blossom on July 5th, will be comprised of Carmina Burana, Polovtsian Dances, and 1812 Overture.

First rehearsal with Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus is like the first day of the semester in law school: you get your music ahead of time, including a CD with the pronunciation and the conductor's markings for the score, and you're expected to be fully prepared before the first rehearsal.

I was very nervous today as I hadn't fully prepared the Borodin. (I just performed the Carmina Burana two years ago, so it's pretty fresh in my ear.) I finally told my boss I needed to take the afternoon off to master the Russian for the Borodin and the Tchaikovsky. Then I got hung up correcting an error I made, and didn't leave the office until after 3:00.

I drove up to Fairmount Temple in Cleveland, where rehearsals are held, and found a shady spot in the parking lot. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. I opened the windows and the sunroof and sat in the car learning my music.

When I twittered today that I was not prepared for rehearsal, my friend FiveHusbands tweeted back that I was probably more prepared than anyone else in the chorus. She was right, at least of the women sitting around me! I had transferred all the markings to the score, listened to the pronunciation CDs of the Orff and the Borodin, practiced my part on all three pieces, and walked into rehearsal fully prepared.

So I'm feeling pretty darned good about myself. If I could go reaudition tonight, I'd have it made!

My final thought about tonight: Who knew there would be so much traffic on the interstate at 10:30 at night?! Oh yeah, and construction on 271 and 480 outside of Cleveland? Always. It will never be done! And at 10:30 at night, that means three lanes crammed into one on southbound 271.

But I think I can live with that traffic and construction, just to sing this fun music with a very good chorus.

And now, good night.