more music, and some weather
Nov. 15th, 2005 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonRehearsal last night for Winter Revels was a bear. An enjoyable bear, for the most part, but a bear, the kind that kicks your ass and then sits there grinning at you, knowing you'll be coming back for more. It started out in a wonderfully relaxed fashion, picking up Lovely Housemate Kelly at work and stopping for a quiet bite and a pint at Murphy's beforehand. Heck, she even treated me, how sweet is that? Then we walked into practice thinking we had 30 min to hang out and warm up and and immediately got pulled into learning and practicing two very raucous folk dances (Bulgarian? They're all becoming a blur), which was fun and highly aerobic, and then we dove into a couple of the Georgian pieces.
Mravalzhamier, the "short" K'akhetian version of a famed Georgian drinking song, is fun, wild, and best of all, short, which, given that we all have to be off-music soon, is a great blessing. Speaking of blessings, the words translate simply as "Long life, blessings and good health." All good things, to be sure! This is another one that may be showing up at some point at a bardic circle.
Mravalzhamier. Mravalzhamier, zhamier. Mravalzhamier!
Ghmertma inebos. Ghmertma inebos, inebos. Tkveni sitsotskhle!
Then...diving into Musorgsky's "Boris Gudonov" (Rimsky-Korsakov arrangement). A stunning piece of music, yes. And...this would be a fairly challenging piece for a full pro or semi-pro choral group, on-music, with plenty of time to practice. As it is, with our little company, a month 'till opening night, and everything off-music, and this among 29 other pieces, most of them in various Eastern European languages and vocal styles...oi. The Georgian folk music, for instance. is heavily diaphragmatic, and the diction is...well, stylized, mumbling, stiff-lipped, like singing while holding a pencil crossways in your mouth (and in fact, we've practiced doing just that ;>) One of the other members of the company, a 10-year vet, told me last night this is definitely the most complex and difficult production he's been in during that time. Lucky me, trial by fire, but I know I have the professional chops to do this, though I'm more than a bit rusty -- it's just going to mean a lot of personal practice between now and opening night. I made a tape of last night's rehearsal, so I can pick out the rough spots. If I work at this, I should be able to help anchor a few of the others in the production. Luckily, since one of my housemates is also in the production, we can practice our parts together in the evenings.
A chilly, damp, rainy day here, in the high 30s, a good day to make up some good strong coffee or cocoa, and lay a fire in one of the fireplaces and take the chill out. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 62, which is incredibly warm for this time of year (thank you global warming), but I'll miss it, will be flying off for a short trip to visit a dear friend and mentor. Starting on Thursday, though, it looks like we'll get to more usual mid to late-November weather here -- 40's in the day, 20's at night. By the weekend I imagine the stream will have started to create the exquisitely beautiful ice sculptures that it does as it starts to freeze over. I'll take some pictures for ya!
Mravalzhamier, the "short" K'akhetian version of a famed Georgian drinking song, is fun, wild, and best of all, short, which, given that we all have to be off-music soon, is a great blessing. Speaking of blessings, the words translate simply as "Long life, blessings and good health." All good things, to be sure! This is another one that may be showing up at some point at a bardic circle.
Mravalzhamier. Mravalzhamier, zhamier. Mravalzhamier!
Ghmertma inebos. Ghmertma inebos, inebos. Tkveni sitsotskhle!
Then...diving into Musorgsky's "Boris Gudonov" (Rimsky-Korsakov arrangement). A stunning piece of music, yes. And...this would be a fairly challenging piece for a full pro or semi-pro choral group, on-music, with plenty of time to practice. As it is, with our little company, a month 'till opening night, and everything off-music, and this among 29 other pieces, most of them in various Eastern European languages and vocal styles...oi. The Georgian folk music, for instance. is heavily diaphragmatic, and the diction is...well, stylized, mumbling, stiff-lipped, like singing while holding a pencil crossways in your mouth (and in fact, we've practiced doing just that ;>) One of the other members of the company, a 10-year vet, told me last night this is definitely the most complex and difficult production he's been in during that time. Lucky me, trial by fire, but I know I have the professional chops to do this, though I'm more than a bit rusty -- it's just going to mean a lot of personal practice between now and opening night. I made a tape of last night's rehearsal, so I can pick out the rough spots. If I work at this, I should be able to help anchor a few of the others in the production. Luckily, since one of my housemates is also in the production, we can practice our parts together in the evenings.
A chilly, damp, rainy day here, in the high 30s, a good day to make up some good strong coffee or cocoa, and lay a fire in one of the fireplaces and take the chill out. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 62, which is incredibly warm for this time of year (thank you global warming), but I'll miss it, will be flying off for a short trip to visit a dear friend and mentor. Starting on Thursday, though, it looks like we'll get to more usual mid to late-November weather here -- 40's in the day, 20's at night. By the weekend I imagine the stream will have started to create the exquisitely beautiful ice sculptures that it does as it starts to freeze over. I'll take some pictures for ya!
