Significant Event #17: Missa Solemnis

Introductory side note: Some of you have asked what happened to significant life events 1-10. I keep a list of significant events in the back of my journal but I don't write about every single one. Most of the first 10 were combined into the first few blogs about all the things I was learning and new experiences, esp. food. Some of them, however, are only really significant to me. If you want to see the list sometime when I return to the states just ask : ) And with that, let's move onto significant life event #17.

4 soloists and the choir director

When I first agreed to help with the choir the director told me I would be singing the soprano solos for the mass. I hadn't even looked at the music before I agreed. Turns out Mozart isn't incredibly easy... Now if I had been at Calvin I would have gone to a practice room for an hour a day for two weeks and known the solos back and forward. BUT I'm not at Calvin. I'm at San Pablo where this isn't even a music department, and there is definitely no where to practice. It just felt too bizarre to sing opera in my house for my entire family to be annoyed by, not to mention I was spending a lot of my time teaching the choir their parts instead of focusing on mine. So... I didn't practice. Two weeks before the show I decided that I should at least listen to the solos if I wanted to learn them in time. And then I thought that when I went home for the wedding I could practice. Obviously there was no time for that.

So this week came. We had rehearsals with the orchestra monday, tuesday, and wednesday but I was not available to go until wednesday. During that practice it became apparent that I needed to practice A LOT if I was going to nail my part in time for the concert. At this time I thought the concert was today. This entire semester I thought the concert was today because of something Jorge said the second week of school. So wednesday night when my Calvin director sent out an e-mail to all of us saying our concert was thursday night and that everyone should go and support me, Annie, and Arianna I had a panic attack. I had less than 24 hours to achieve excellence.

Oh, did I mention I've had a brutal cold since I went to the states? It seemed to only be getting worse with every day that passed. On Thursday I woke up and could breathe clearly for the first time in over a week. I hummed along to the mass on my itunes throughout the entire day and showed up at the church at 6:30 ready to go. I was very uncertain but realized there was nothing more I could do in that moment so I should just enjoy the concert.

I don't know how to describe what happened during that concert. It's like all the notes I was unsure about found their place and my breathe support was fully functioning despite the fact that my dress was making normal breathing quite difficult. The only explanation is obvious - God had a hand in my performance. I have never been so ill-prepared for a performance in my life. And it may just be one of my best performances of my life. My family was there, beaming with pride and a bunch of my calvin friends and san pablo friends and calvin director and husband too. It was so nice to have that support and to know that even if I had complete failed they would have been there to support me regardless.

After the performance one of the violinists asked if i would sing with his youth orchestra. I'm going to a concert tonight to check them out. He gave me some chocolate from Iberica (a reeeeally good chocolate store here) and told me that I should never stop singing because my voice is sweeter than chocolate. Yesterday morning mami gave me a single hot pink rose with a note of congratulations from the fam. It is blossoming beautifully in a vase in my room. I'm hoping I can dry it and take it home with me as a remembrance of the event.

The concert program, the article in the paper about the concert and the rose from Mami

So, sorry for the long drawn out explanation, but I wanted you to feel as if you personally experienced all of this : ) I am proud of the choir and proud of myself. I taught them well. They no longer sound like a high school choir starting out in the world of music. Sure, there is still much room for growth, but I've seen a change in them over the last two months and I feel incredibly blessed to have been a part of that change. I talked to the director today. My next goal is to teach them some typical American Christmas songs for their holiday concert in December. Suggestions welcome : )