My House Debra

It is really important to me to use this Blog to share the real things that are happening in my life. We all wake up each day with a new adventure before us; some are unplanned events that catch us off our guard like my pipes busting, and some are scheduled events that we have purposely put in our life because we feel they have special value. Being in the Orchestra at Temple Square and performing with the Choir is a purposeful part of my life right now. This is a time and a season for me to be involved with something that will survive and move forward with or without me, but just because I was lucky enough to become a part of this amazing organization, I now enjoy the adventures that this calling provides.
So what is a recording session you might ask? It's easy enough to give a quick answer, but if you haven't experienced it before it might be a worthy topic for me to spend some time on.

Well.... it's Friday and Seth and I will be showing up along with all other Choir and Orchestra members to begin recording at 6:45 pm. The session will go from that time until 10:00 pm or thereabouts. Last night we didn't even get in our cars to start heading home until 10:35 pm . We had just finished recording "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven. We were all excited and exuberant even though we were tired. This piece just makes you feel that way.
Sit with me a minute and I'll review last night's session. : I'm sitting in stand #5 , 3rd row back from the principal 2nds. Stephanie is my stand partner. We arrive and sit down ready for an evening of recording. Our first piece to record for the evening is: "Wonder" a fun original composition by Matt Wilberg featuring a 4 hands piano part , orchestra and the Choir. It's written in a buoyant happy, modern style that sounds a bit Broadway. Moving from 7/8 to 5/8 time there are probably, I'm guessing at least 30 or more measures before our part will be needed. Quiet in the hall, all telephones off - "completely" not even on vibrate!! Of course all the usual formalities are observed; welcome from Scott Woodbury because President Mack was out of town, a wisecrack about how he hasn't left us to serve as President of the Vienna Boy's Choir, prayer, tuning and we are ready to begin. Many of us place a book in our laps and begin to read because it will be some time before we will be needed.

Back to Wonder............ very rhythmic and happy this piece shares the delight and wonder of all the stages of life, from being born, to being a child, growing to maturity and then becoming old. I am sitting close to the big 10 ft grand piano. Brother Elliot and his wife are playing the four hands and clipping it off without missing a beat. The usual pattern of recording consists of taking a few measures of music and laying down the track, then stopping and consulting with the sound booth to see what they are hearing. Once Mack knows what the concerns are in the sound booth he proceeds to work with the Choir to fix whatever problems there are. The idea being to get the most perfect and flawless performance possible. It is always fun to watch Mack work with the Choir. He has some typical concerns that always seem to be at the forefront: pitch, pitch, and more pitch. He speaks about getting the placement of vowels right because that is what influences pitch the most; and when he talks of placement, he always mentions the "upper shelf". Another big bugaboo about getting pitch in the right place is singing without vibrato. Most of the time when he is talking about that he is referring to the sopranos. It is quite fun to see him demonstrate by using his hands ... swimming them around like a fish in water ... you can see the way vibrato just messes with the consistent pitch that is needed. In talking to the men it's always about getting away from the sound called "profundo". It's really important to lighten up the sound or the pitch will sag, or the quality of sound will be too heavy for what he wants to hear. On the Beethoven it was especially important to say the German words with a lot of diction. The power of the message was enhanced with a strong emphasis on diction and getting the energy up. We all really loved playing the Beethoven. It provides a lot of activity for the Orchestra and so we felt like we were being featured almost as much as the Choir. The other piece that we worked on Thursday was a piece that was used for the movie "Henry the Fifth" called "Non Nobis Domino which means "Not to us, O Lord, but to your Name give the Glory." The movie depicts the battle of Agincourt between the French and the English (part of the 100 year conflict.) The English are greatly outnumbered by the French, it's like 20,000 French soldiers to about 7,000 English. In the end the English win the conflict. As they walk off the battlefield they sing this song, giving the praise and glory to God. It's a beautiful piece written for the men's section of the Choir. Using a Latin hymn text, the tenors begin with one voice and in a stately processional style that begins as though it is coming from a far distant place. This one voice sound builds by adding more voices and swells to a beautiful triumphal finish. Like I said before all of this is happening in small sections. Usually it takes from 10 to possibly 15 takes before you move from one section to another. It is painstaking but carefully crafted to insure that they have at least 2 to 3 good possible takes before moving on. In the end... as you can imagine, it's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. All the elements are there it's just piecing them together.

We all try to make the most of our time while we are there. Just listening can be enjoyable to some extent but the continual going back and forth especially when you are not playing requires some other diversions to keep you awake. That is why many bring books to read while they are waiting. Emily is always good for something fun to do. She brought us a word puzzle this year where you find all the words scrambled and locate them in the maze. It helped me keep alert on the last day. Of course... after we finish up a piece Mack does give us as much as 7 to 8 minutes of break. Once we even had a 12 minute break but he is a stickler for not wasting time. A couple of times he mentioned being so anxious about some of the sounds that he feels like his heart is racing and he's concerned that he may have a heart attack. We of course usually have our Dr. Price around or Jeff Anderson who are both heart specialists. So many talented and capable people in the group.

Seth and I have dealt with a few personal concerns, Sitting for long stretches of time really aggravates my sciatica and Seth has been feeling a little under the weather with a cold, but by and large we have held up pretty well despite getting to bed at around midnight each night and then up early. I really think the Lord blesses you a lot. Many others there are also dealing with aches and pains of every kind. What an amazing group of people!!

I will never forget how on Saturday at the very end of the day the women's voices began to sound like angels. Mack kept saying how beautiful it sounded and was very complimentary. The piece that was being recorded was Psalm 148 by Gustav Holst. The melody that was being used was the one we commonly hear in Church from the hymn "All creatures of our God and King". The words are absolutely beautiful, expressing the highest feelings of praise and adoration to our Lord and Savior. As the Choir performed this piece I couldn't help but think that angels truly were joining in their voices and lifting the performance to the highest level of exultation. It truly reflected the joy we all felt as we finalized this offering of our talents to the Lord for the furtherance of His work upon the earth. This sweet spirit continued to carry over on Sunday morning and for me it was a spiritual feast of beauty as we once again worked very hard to create a new CD. Mack mentioned that they are thinking of giving the new CD the title of "Gory".