Singing makes you happy

I love singing - I always have. My brother and I always sang in the car, and were in choirs as kids...I don't really ever remember NOT singing. There was a period in high school when we were both in band and it was not terribly cool to be in band AND be able to sing...you had to pick one or the other.

Thankfully, college didn't have that restriction. Fairly early on my music theory professor frog-marched several of us to the early music vocal group, assuring us that it wasn't really a choir, more a group of music geeks singing and then going to the pub.

I knew I had to find a choir when I moved here, to give myself a non-work anchor, and I was really lucky that I ended up with the Bury Bach Choir.

We're currently looking for new members, in all voices. Can you sing? Can you read music (sight-reading isn't necessary)? Do you want to come and sing? It's fun - we rehearse once a week (more, the week of the concert), and give 4 concerts a year. There is truly nothing like singing with a choir.

Even Eric Whitacre thinks British choirs are the best...

If you're interested, check out the contact details here, on our website, or email me.

(Picture taken on our last choir outing...Houghton Hall is SO epic that it has its own post box. Srsly.)

I am Ingrid (well, not really)

It was time for some new glasses. Because, well, it was.

I had been admiring Joanna Goddard's glasses, as pictured here, and Ingrid Michaelson's glasses, here.

So I went to Specsavers (I know!) and got these. LOVE them. Also, feeling very pleased with myself because they were the cheapest pair in the store. £25 frames, £40 for the lenses. I think that might be my karma from the 2-pairs-ago expensive disaster coming back around.

Speaking of Ms. Ingrid, I can also play The Chain on my new guitar (no, it's not a hard song, and no, I'm not a good guitarist) while singing along. Oh clever me.

Other favorite thing of the moment: nectarines, halved, with a little bit of butter and a sprinkling of sugar, under the broiler for 5 minutes, with ice cream. Do we maybe think this is why my skinny pants didn't fit this morning? Umm...

Don't sing flat

We had the first rehearsal of the season for the Bach Choir on Wednesday night. It was really good to see everyone again and get singing. We had almost 100 people at the rehearsal, which is quite a bit bigger than the same time last year. Sweet!

I was talking to someone on the committee and apparently there's a woman who's been singing flat for years. She was standing behind me during a dress rehearsal and was driving me crazy. So I turned around and asked her (nicely) to either sing in tune or sing more quietly. And apparently I offended her so much that she's quit the choir. Aww shucks. One less flat singer. Obv, I can't make a habit of it, but still, I feel like it was kind of a public service.

Or, see previous post about how I'm a bitch. :)

Weather here is cold and rainy and revolting - I'm SO glad we got our two weeks of summer in NY, otherwise I would have moved to the south of France by now.

In other singing news, I went to a singing masterclass through Complete Vocal Institute (to do with work) yesterday. We were taught by the author of the books, who apologised to us at the beginning for the fact that our scheduled teacher was sick and she was replacing him. Um, you're the guru - we don't mind!

We had 2 hours of vocal theory (using her methods), which was quite illuminating, and then 2 hours of masterclass teaching. I was signed up as a 'singer' and got to perform and then be coached. Unreal. My voice changed so much (for the better) during my half hour that one of the audience members stopped me to compliment me afterwards. He said that I'd made the whole room ring. Now we'll see if I can replicate it.