February 20

2-20

Today I met with Jeannette to plan our trip to Austria and Hungary over spring break. We had originally planned to go to Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg, but now it’s looking like we’re going to skip Salzburg. *tear* It was too much money to do all three. So maybe I can still go to Salzburg in May/June. But anyway, we’ve got at least part of the trip planned out.
I also had my first choir rehearsal today. Patricia met me at the train station and drove me the rest of the way. We were a little late because I had to come all the way from Jen’s house (almost an hour away) and then we got lost driving there, but we got there around 6:30. I had a mini voice test so the director could see my range, and then I jumped into the choir. I would guess there are about 50 people in it, both students and community members. We’re doing all Handel music for this concert in honor of the 200 or something-th anniversary of his death. I was happy to find that out; I wasn’t sure what kind of music to expect. And I just did a concert with all Handel, so I’m nice and practiced up. Even though it’s been over two months since I’ve sung seriously. The music is all in Latin or English, which is kinda funny. I go to Spain and sing German music in English. Go figure. It’s cute to listen to the choir singing English in their Spanish accents! There’s a concert at the end of March that’s held in a cathedral in Leganés, which is the town where the rehearsals are. It’s just south of Madrid. I’m not sure if I’m going to be in the concert or not, since I’m jumping in in the middle of the rehearsal process, but I’d absolutely love to sing in a cathedral! I think I will be able to do it, though, as long as I’m not traveling. Apparently a lot of the people in the choir don’t read music, so one of the directors was talking constantly about how important it is to learn your parts and listen to the music and stuff. So I’ve already got a leg up on them, being able to read. I didn’t sing perfectly, but I was probably almost as good as some of the people who’ve been singing this music for a while. So I don’t think there’ll be a problem with learning it. There’s a part in each reahearsal where groups of 2 or 3 go up into a little room for a vocal technique session with another teacher (who’s from England, so she speaks English!). Basically, it’s just to go over any problem sections. I went with the girl sitting next to me and her friend. They are the kind of singers that will sing when someone else is singing with them, but not on their own. After a 10 minute session, the teacher was telling them to sit by me and listen so they can learn their parts better. That made me feel pretty good about myself! J I got to talking with the two girls that sat on either side of me. Both of them told me that I could speak English with them if I wanted, and they were both talking to me in English the whole time. One of them was translating a lot of what the director said, which wasn’t really necessary most of the time, but it was nice of her to do. She made sure I knew where we were and everything, too, which was good because sometimes when they say where we’re starting it’s all a blur and hard to catch. The rehearsal is four hours long, which I thought was going to be atrocious, but it wasn’t too bad. There’s a long warm up time, then sectionals, during which we go out to our vocal technique things. Then we take a break and come back with the whole choir. So it’s pretty well broken up. It went faster than I expected.
The director arranged for someone who lives near me to show me how to get back home, since I had come in a rather circuitous route. She was a very nice woman who talked to me about lots of different things and gave me her phone number in case I had any questions. We took the train home, but the director drove us to the train station, so I’m still not sure how exactly to get there. Next week we’re going to take the metro and compare travel times. I think the train would be faster, but it’s kind of far from the campus.
When I got home at a little after 11, I found that Patricia and Jen had been calling and calling, worried about where I was. I realized that Rosaura and Manuel had forgotten I was going to choir. I had told Rosaura I would be back in the afternoon, but the planning session with Jen took a lot longer than I expected, so I went directly to choir. Yesterday Rosaura asked me if I was going to choir and I told her I was going today, but I guess I didn’t tell her what time. They were apparently waiting for me to eat, and Manuel called Patricia, which made her worried, so she called a couple times, then she called Jen, who then got worried and called me several times, and it was a big mess. Plus I got another scolding from Rosaura for not calling and letting them know I wasn’t going to be there for supper. Another one of those ‘you need to use your head and have some sense’ talks. I apologized profusely, but she kept going on, and there’s only so many times I can say I’m sorry. Especially when she did know I was going to choir. Yes, I should have made sure she remembered, but we did talk about it yesterday. Of course, when I told her I thought she knew because we had talked last night, she said she didn’t remember. I sometimes remember if her memory is all there, because she tends to ask me things several times. So I should have taken that into account and made sure she knew. But I didn’t. And I got scolded. Whatever. I’m not taking this one to heart.
So yeah, that was my night. I have to get up early tomorrow so I can meet the girls at 9:15 to go to Segovia. I’m excited; it’s supposed to be a beautiful city. I’m sure I’ll have lots to talk about tomorrow!
Good night,
Bethany