Already launched into August? Not. With no singing season in sight, the summer has felt endless. I can imagine that the schoolchildren feel the same way though their situation is less certain. “Will we be going back to school, will we not?” I know we, as a chorus, will not be singing until after January at best and not until next September at the least. That is a personal tragedy. Someone once very rudely, very much behind my back, suggested that the singing kept me stable. Sadly, that is partly true. Wow. If my stability were called into question these days, I could retort, “No, it isn’t the singing that keeps me on an even keel…it’s the prescription drugs!” Haha.
I came to depend on the weekly choir events for camaraderie and exercise. At one point, I was in three choirs – one rehearsal Monday, one Wednesday and one Thursday. It made for a daunting amount of material to learn. I grew into the task by realizing that we always had our scores with us in performance for reference. The rest of the work is simply learning the intervals and the expressions. The intervals are the same no matter what you are singing. There is a fourth, a fifth, a minor fall, a major lift. Haha. Seriously, in simplest terms all you need do is keep learning how to sing C, then G, then F, E, D, C and how loud, soft, what rhythm. Of course, that isn’t easy, that’s why we have to keep learning it. Rehearsing three times a week is a great way to learn ‘Do Re Mi’.
Thinking of solfege and how hard it is to learn, I am reminded now of a fellow I used to work with. I was warned by my colleagues not to attend a tavern with him, under any circumstances. “You never know if you will be going to jail or not.” I took heed. He was a bit rough and tumble and sparky. Standing at the boring mill, he always kept a shoulder-width foot position with one foot slightly back. Since he was short and thick, not fat, it gave the impression of some sort of pit bull dog who was ready to pounce! While he worked, he always sang or whistled. Music bubbled out of him along with a quick wit and I had two occasions to witness and remember the rest of my life. Since he was operating the small boring mill, just as another employee had before him, I got a smart-ass urge and asked him if I could call him, “Al”. (The other guy’s name.) Without missing a beat he said, “Sure, if I can call you Betty, ha-ha!” One day as I walked past, he was whistling what sounded like the overture to Swan Lake. “..daaa, da-da-da-da-daaaa-ta-da, da daaa da, da da da, ta da…”. I complimented him on his choice of material by name and he looked at me, stunned. “I was whistling, ‘Doe, a deer’!” he said. I excused my ignorance and went back to my area. You see? ‘Do-Re-Mi’ isn’t easy to do.
Living with Covid-19 is not going to be easy. The locked down spring, summer and hesitant season to come have our world upside down. Folks are marching in the streets in a number of locales. Governments are sending mixed messages, confused orders and economies are in peril. There is an edge to every word that emanates from the capitals. We are in a jam. What is particularly dangerous, we have only rudimentary community. Singing, concerts, sports, picnics, parades are all in the past for the present. We are gettin’ antsy, boys and girls. That ain’t a good thing. “…daaa, da-da-da-da-daaa, ta-da….”
Robert On The Air 