All I need is *mublesomthingaboutkissingmumble* and music, Music, MUSIC!

It's been a long, full week. So I'm going to rant about it now. I guess I shouldn't use the word 'rant,' cause that kind of implies that I'm angry about it. Wouldn't want to give that impression. I tend to use that word to mean that I have a lot of thoughts on the subject in my head and they are going to be spilled all over the place and probably not in anything like a logical fashion. I don't know what you would call that if it's not ranting. It's too late to think of good words. In any case, I don't think I'm capable of doing this sort of 'ranting' out loud (and my sisters would get sick of it and stubbornly change the subject) so I put it on the blog.

For those of you who don't know, I was at an a cappella sacred music symposium at Peperdine University. Let's see if I can find a link... There we go. The Ascending Voice

Peperdine is a Christian university; Church of Christ by denomination. I didn't know anything about the Church of Christ. Apparently they have a long standing tradition of using only a cappella music in their worship. So they put on this symposium to celebrate this tradition and invited some other faith traditions to come and share their love of a cappella. So the Gregorian Schola got to go and me with them.

The Schola being respectable musicians And in proper concert formation in our starched white robes. Who would guess we are capable of so much Dufay? Don't be fooled by the innocent looks.

I have always loved singing with people more than anything in the world. It's never mattered much what we sing or how we were accompanied as long as I got to blend my voice with someone else's. This is still true but now I can say that a cappella music is my favorite. This week was Amazing.

There were all sorts of choirs and little groups who came and sang throughout each day and panels and presentations and workshops in between. The presentations were great and I learned all sorts of interesting things but the performances were my favorite part. There was not a single group that I didn't enjoy but I tend to gravitate
towards the simpler music. I enjoyed the really polished, complex music like a grommet meal but I really prefer the spirituals and simple harmonizations for everyday wear and tear. I guess that's cause I've been raised on so much folk music and the like.

The 'schola gang.' Don't we look fierce? Wouldn't want to meet us in a dark alley would you. We might sing Terra Tremuit at you or something.

Our concert went really well. We have worked hard on it since November. When we practiced together in the common room of our dorm for the first time since school got out I think we were a bit nervous cause our end of the year concert was recorded and we had all heard that it was not particularly brilliant. So we started working really hard and things started to click. We did a months worth of singing together in about three days and we went from sounding okay to sounding quite lovely in most places and pretty darn good everywhere else. I really wish I could hear or see a recording. I personally was not at my best cause I was quite sick a few hours before we sang. Someone must have been praying cause I recovered very quickly. That's an other story. But I did alright, I think. I have grown SO much as a singer in the last year it amazes me. I'm amazed at my own musical brilliance. Just kidding. I have a long way to go but Dr. Ed has picked on me enough this year for me to hear a significant difference. Now, if I only I can keep it up...

Under all this excitement was a bitter sweetness cause we knew that our director Dr. Ed was leaving and probably not coming back. This was his last concert with us. We were at the air port home at last and suddenly he was getting in his car and driving away and I realized that that was good bye for a very long time. Sad.
Dr. Ed
It's up to us students to continue the schola now. The director they hired to replace Ed for the first year is very talented and knowledgeable but it takes some specialized knowledge and skill to direct the schola and not many people have it. There are simply not many people out there with a passion for Gregorian Chant. The fellow we have for the next year is not even Catholic. How do you lead a musical group thats main purpose is to sing at a service you don't understand or believe in? So it's all up to us. What big shoes to fill! And we will just miss Ed for his own sake of course.

So, it was an amazing week. On top of all the music, Peperdine is a pretty nice place. You have to walk up a lot of hills and stairs but at least we stayed in shape and there were all these deer that pretty much owned the campus. There was a whole family of them that wouldn't let me walk to my dorm one evening. They were stubbornly standing in my path and looking at me as if they were considering getting a camera to take a picture of the strange creature that wondered into their yard as if it owned the place. Okay, my sentences are getting really long. I better stop now.