Singin'

I sing to relieve stress.

It is a massage from the inside (I heard Holly Near say that in a concert one time). I belong to a singing group that focuses on older classical music with some Americana tossed in for good measure and probably ticket sales.

It is a fabulous group and I feel more than fortunate to belong to it. I have been on two tours with the group-one to Italy, Slovenia, and Austria before I was a member and one, as a member to Canada. The group sang in duomos and churches everywhere. We sang in restaurants, on street corners, anywhere that we thought would get people to listen.

On of the things we do in formal concerts is to have a member of the choir introduce each selection. It helps to explain whether a piece is in romantic style or classical, who the composer was or is and a bit of the history. There are a few hams in the group who love to do this sort of thing. It is their minute of fame.

I like my minute of fame. So I always volunteer to introduce a selection.

The last couple of concerts, our Director has figured I am good for the Ave Maria. Now there are thousands upon thousands of renditions of the Ave Maria. The group has sung a lot of them. Some are in Latin, some in Greek, some in English, some in....well, you get the picture.

But they all say the same thing. They are all music written to the Roman Catholic prayer of intercession to the Virgin Mary.

How many ways can you say this is the prayer of intercession?

One time I just said the prayer. One time I talked about the Latin. This time I talked about the composer.
When I sat down the Director complemented me. I was, to say the least, a bit surprised. This was a rehearsal and such words are a bit unexpected.

So I said something flippant like "Well, its what I do for a living!" and we bantered a bit until it came out that I do murder trials.

He looked at me and he said," When I screw up I lose a chord. When you screw up you..." and we said in unison "lose a life".

Like I said. I sing to relieve the stress.