Recording

My choir recorded a CD this past weekend and boy, was it a lot of work!  I had NO idea just how much it would require of me.  In the Catholic church we were in there was a statue of a saint with a skull by his feet.  We were all wondering who that is and what that all was about.  As a joke they said that when you hit a wrong note that the skull would come to life.

Well... I think I found the dude.  He's St. Jerome and he's commonly depicted with a skull as a reminder of mortality and often depicted with an owl...a symbol of wisdom.  I knew I liked the guy.

This is the inner sanctum of the recording.  Lots and lots of cords.

In the bathroom this is what was painted.  I rather liked it and I'm thinking I need that in my bathroom.

They also had unusual paintings of women around the world.

Like the nifty door stop?  That's our conductor, Charles Bruffy.

This is the front of the room.  This is where we recorded.  Lovely church with great acoustics.  We made great music this weekend.  There were several times I felt close to tears out of frustration and joy and just weariness.  I can not wait to hear the final product.  What a wonderful thing to be able to make art through the use of your voice.  Such a personal thing and such a beautiful thing to share with others.  I can not explain all the nuances that go into something like this.  It is tricky when your instrument is inside your body.    

One of our choir members brought along some inspirational quotes each day to give to us.  This one I liked a lot:

"As performers, we must immerse ourselves in the words, in the sound and sense of the text and context, that we might become worthy channels through which these musical and poetic ideas might again be brought to life and communicated to others.  To be a singer is not enough; we must become the song."

Samuel Barber- (here's an interesting fact... we are about to sing one of his pieces in our upcoming concert)