I’m starting to feel the pinch of this mad couple of weeks. The combination of being physically tired and mentally overstrung is not a good combination in the long run. It does help that everything has gone well, but I do need to rest. And I intend to take the coming week lightly – I just have to get through a long rehearsal today.
It is with Spira Ensemble, a choir set up by ex-choristers of mine from Lyran (female choir) and Akademen about five years ago. Spira meets for one long weekend day rehearsal + one evening rehearsal a month. Time is limited, but the choristers do more work on their own in more regular choirs. They also have both sectionals and rehearsals in octets for each period. I haven’t met the choir for a month, so I am a little nervous about what shape our new pieces are in.
These pieces are two works that were entered in a composition competition. Spira will be performing these pieces in the awards concert in early June. Plenty of time in that sense, but we need to make a rehearsal recording today. This is for the jury of the competition and they will only make the final decisions on the prizes after hearing these recordings. A good idea in my view, but the cause of some stress today.
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The weather has taken a turn for the cooler as we all knew it would. About 10 degrees colder than it was on Thursday… April did strike back.
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The rehearsal began in a way that tests me: lots of people were away or late. Fortunately I did not take it out on the ones that were there and just as fortunately, the ones present sang well (when Spira sings well, the purity of both intonation and voices are lovely) . Enough people gradually dropped in to make the recordings possible and I thought the result was more than sufficient. At the same time, we got a recording that can be used for rehearsing the new pieces at home. So all in all, a good day, even if arduous.
At the rehearsal, I did OK, but at times I felt jet lagged. I really need to get some rest this coming week. But the good news is that I’ve come through these past two weeks alive. I would not say unscathed, but these battle scars I wear with pride.
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P.S. The poster for yesterday’s concert is worth seeing. When it first appeared, many of the singers did not get it at all. In the end, everyone had to admit it was brilliant.
Kari Turunen 