Shabbat Shinyness

[theyellowhobbit]

Last night I led kabbalat shabbat, since no one else was leading it. This time I actually succeeded in using the tunes I wanted for Lecha Dodi, though I did mess up one of the verses by starting the verse after it, but luckily I caught it in time. And I did a decent job leading.

Afterwards, MB, my friend HS who was from UMD but now lives in Boston, and I went to EY's for gaming. While we were playing Settlers, MB said that I should try out for Techiya, MIT's Jewish acapella group, and that I have a really powerful voice, and that it would be good for solos. (Me? Solos?) The music director of the group, J, was also at services then, though I didn't know she was the music director when MB introduced me to her. So I'll audition in the fall.

Also, after a year of gaming with HRSFA on a regular basis, I finally won a HRSFA game of Settlers of Catan. For most of the game I wasn't the scary one, but then I got two road building cards and stole longest road, got another development card which was a victory point, and then had enough at the end to build the last settlement to get me to 10. Had I not won that turn, MB would have won on his.

So now I don't need to win Settlers with HRSFA again, though obviously I like winning.

This morning J was at services, and MB had told her that I was interested in auditioning, and she asked me what part I sang. For a second I was a bit surprised that she even had to ask, seeing as she had been at Friday night services, and I'm so obviously an alto, especially when I'm leading services and sing everything in alto keys. So I told her I sing somewhere between alto and tenor, and she said "good! That means you have a chesty alto voice which is good for solos, and we like to have a diversity of voices..." Etc. They have one opening for each voice part, so we'll see whether or not I'll actually get in. MB thinks I can.

Overall, it's nice to have the validation that I actually can sing, even if I'm 5 years out of practice in terms of anything that isn't service leading.

Comments

[platypuses.livejournal.com]

I suck so much at Settlers!

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

The thing is that I'm actually a decent player. I can win games with other people (even HRSFA alums) but some of the people in HRSFA are really good. Though a lot of it is luck, and even if you do have good strategy you could get screwed by a bunch of really bad dice rolls.

[awful-dynne.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the audition(even if it isn't until fall)!

Also, I am curious as to what your schedule of work/class is on Tuesday evenings and Wednesdays, because that is the day I have off from camp and I am only an hourish from Boston and would like to see you if you have time. Granted, I'll be around for something like eight weeks so it doesn't have to be this week, but generally that is my schedule. :)

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

This Tuesday evening I'm free, though Tuesday might turn into Buffy night in general. But that also varies on a week to week basis, so if I know ahead of time, I can be free.

Wednesdays are just bad. I have language class from 6-9 and afterwards there's swing dancing. Though conceivably I can be free between 2:30 and 6. And during that time I'll need to eat dinner, so I would be up for going to one of the kosher restaurants in Brookline...

[midnight-sidhe.livejournal.com]

Overall, it's nice to have the validation that I actually can sing, even if I'm 5 years out of practice in terms of anything that isn't service leading.

You have a really gorgeous voice. Don't worry about the being-out-of-practice thing. I didn't sing at all for at least fifteen years, including religious music, and I'm doing okay.

[awful-dynne.livejournal.com]

Sorry I didn't get back to this immediately, I wanted to make sure I could get into Boston. Anyways, between 2:30 and 6 for Kosher food in Brookline sounds great(how would I get to Brookline from Boston?--are you in downtown Boston?)! I am leaving Palmer around 7:30(am) and have to be back by 8:30(pm) and have no plans other than I would like to walk around and go to a/some museum/s. Have any suggestions? :)

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

Though I really do need to get into shape. My sight reading now sucks (as MB can attest with the HRSFA seder) and I have like no upper register. At all. If I don't have to sing in my upper register I'm fine, but sometimes altos have to sing in soprano range...

[midnight-sidhe.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :)

I find sight-reading very discouraging because I really cannot do it at all for singing, but since I'm pretty good at it on flute, I think ought to be able to do it, which makes my failure to do it with singing all the more annoying.

sometimes altos have to sing in soprano range...

That seems rather unfair...

The first altos in Carmina Burana have to hit a high G at one point, and they were quite unhappy about it. (I heard one of them muttering during a break in the dress rehearsal, 'I'm a first alto, not a ^%$%$% soprano.') I guess it works the other way sometimes, too; the music ophblekuwufu and I just bought for the lot of us to sing requires the sopranos to sing below the staff sometimes, which doesn't seem particularly sporting either. I have a lower register, but I don't really much like using it.