What significant things have I done today?

[Opsa]

Griffith, you are an amazon. It's one thing to perform feats of strength at your physical peak, but doing what needs to be done when you are not so strong is a real triumph.

EDIT:
The most significant thing I did today, I did with the help of three of the families that helped with my children's theater these past three years: We moved all of the theater things out of both locations where we had lost storage. One was at the local community center, where the county had decided to charge us for rehearsals as well as storage, even though they also took all the ticket sales for our shows, and the other was the old church, where we started, but they got a new pastor who wanted to use the space we had occupied. I had to be out of both places by the end of July, but we got it done today.

I didn't know how I was going to clear out both spaces in the month I was given to move them, but with the help of these good friends we got it all out of both places today. I then took them out for pizza and ice cream. I gave away a lot of stuff, but we wound up having fun and everyone is walking away happy. I am pleased.

So the theater-running part of my life is over for now, at least. I don't know what the future holds, but at least this part is cleaned up tidily. It could have been a lot worse!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I'm sure that is a weight off your shoulders, and a well deserved peace and quiet. Congrats!

[pieces o nine]

I hope your next curtain rises on a better gig!   

[Griffin NoName]

All fresh and ready for more adventures,, I hope.

[Opsa]

Thanks, my friends.

I'm physically exhausted and mentally relieved.

The 8 or so kids that were there to help were sort of hanging around up in the old performance area after we had cleared it out, as if they weren't ready to go. So I gathered them together in a circle and we put our arms on each other's shoulders and closed our eyes and said goodbye to the space. Then we breathed in through our noses and out through our mouths and were done.

Sometimes a little ritualistic exercise helps.

[Aggie]

Today I signed up for a local Celtic choir, directed by the lead singer of my favorite band. They've been around a couple of years, but it's been female-only until now.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Happy hunting, erm, singing.

[Aggie]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to get to know the fiddler of the band a little better, but I've already set the groundwork for that on the dance floor.    The choir apparently opens up for the band on occasion.

[Opsa]

Sounds like fun.

[Aggie]

Had my first choir practice today.  I'm the youngest member, I think, but it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.

I came to the realization that I can follow notes pretty well, but octaves... not so much.  It's a bad habit from switching octaves when singing along to bands with higher-pitched singers (most mainstream rock, for example).

[pieces o nine]

Got the OK on both storyboard layouts for the "haunted history" exhibit at a local museum. Will posts pics later this week in the gallery...these are so great it's scary!!!

[Aggie]

Ooh! Can't wait... spooky storyboards!

[Opsa]

Wow, that really sounds cool, Pieces.

Aggie, another challenging part of singing is when you have to change voices in mid-song. It takes practice, but you can do it.

[Aggie]

Aggie, another challenging part of singing is when you have to change voices in mid-song. It takes practice, but you can do it.

Ayuh, I've played around enough to run into that one.  I'm looking forward to having a little bit of formal direction from the choir director and probably from some of the other guys in the choir. There's only 5 male members, but at least 3 of them are experienced musicians, and one of those has significant choir experience. There are probably about 30 people total, and more than half are new this year.  It's a pretty fun and casual atmosphere.

I might even manage to learn to sight-read music; I can (slowly) work my way through music and sort the notes out, but don't have a clue what different notes sound like.  I learned to read music back when I took piano lessons as a kid, and tend to think of things spatially (i.e. what key on the keyboard does this mark indicate) rather than by sound. I never really associated the mark on the page with the sound of the note, and since voice is a fretless instrument, I'm clueless as to what the sounds mean in terms of notes on the page.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

That takes tonal tensions for tonal (and to a degree modal) music, and requires some training, fundamentally teaching your brain where the stable notes of the scale are, and the tension created by the remaining ones (2nd to 1st, 4th to 3rd, 6th to 5th and 7th to 8th[1st]). There are some sites that can help but the basic principle needs a bit of practice.

Let me know if you need some help with that.