tonight's rehearsal

If it were not for the fact that we have a concert on Saturday, I probably wouldn't have gone to rehearsal tonight. Although I'm feeling better, I'm not quite ready to sing. The last practice before a concert is always the most crucial though, last minute changes, stress on nuances etc., so I decided to go anyway. I'm very glad I went even though I wasn't in tiptop shape.... I always feel energized after our practices and it probably was the best thing I could do.

Many people in the choir were just like me and had a touch of the bug. It's going around and seems like so many of us were on the verge of coughing up a lung. Usually, James is extremely strict about chewing gum while singing.. first of all you can't articulate and second.. well.. you just might choke. Tonight, he was very tolerant. Most of us were chewing "Alpine Gum". It's like gum mixed with cough syrup. It actually pretty awful. The texture is too soft and it tastes pretty medicinal but at least it keeps the throat from drying out.


There were several musicians accompanying us tonight. Two female soloists were there also. Éliane, who gives us vocal coaching and Roxanne. Éliane has a pretty voice and a strong voice but Roxanne has a voice that is just so incredibly beautiful that it is literally stunning. Last week I laughed about James singing a duo with Vincent... James sang Roxanne's part. Well.. tonight Roxanne was there to sing her part and I swear .. shivers up my thighs.. up my arms.. up my neck. This girl has first-class pipes. She has that special ingredient that can't be taught.. it comes from inside. A wonderful timbre and so much soul. I guess you could tell by my face how it affected me because after she told me, "It is so fun watching your face while I sing".. Now I hope it was fun because she could tell how much I enjoyed it and not fun.. "haha" you look like an idiot! with that dumb look on your face! :-D

We are only singing 6 songs in this concert. A few from our upcoming production and a few favorites of the crowd... including for Valentine's day: "Depuis le premier jour" a song by Isabelle Boulay.

The evening will be split into 3 sessions. We sing one song in the 1st session.. then nothing in the second and 5 in a row in the third. It is going to be a very long day. We need to be there at 4:00 to have a run-through at 4:30.. sound checks etc., Concert only starts at 7:30. We won't be out of there before 10:30 or 11:00. It will be fun though! :)