Well, as most of you know, I moved to Pennsylvania and am settling in.  I joined the Pike County Choral Society because my mother and sister are altos there and I thought it would be fun to sing again.  I haven't sung in a choir since high school.  Seriously.  I am so out of practice it isn't funny.  

You learn, in a good high school chorus, how to sing a little Latin, a little French, perhaps some German.  You don't really learn enough, of course, but you can get the gist of how each language is supposed to sound while being sung by a group of people who can or cannot really sing well.  

Having forgotten that you're supposed to drop the H and that I is "ee", I found myself mispronouncing all this gorgeous Latin stuff that Dvorak wrote in his Mass in D.  As for learning German, I never learned it, so all I can say is that singing Bach in chorus is a hell of a lot harder than learning Bach on the piano.  And I happen to be a smoker, so instead of being a high soprano or a soprano or even an alto (which is how I progressed in high school over the course of two years), I am now a tenor.  And the Pike County Choral Society only had two other tenors, before I showed up.  So now I'm singing some wrong notes AND mispronouncing my Latin and German whilst singing the tenor part with only two other people.

Oy.

After two very uncomfortable rehearsals wherein I felt I was in WAY over my head, I got a CD from my sister which features some other chorus singing the songs we are practicing, and I also was led to a handy little website called Cyberbass.com.  I can now practice at home, which is a good thing because having one two-hour rehearsal once a week just won't cut it.  I also looked up "How to sing Latin in Chorus" and got some great tips on the internet.  Lastly, I transferred the CD my sister made onto my iPod so that I can go to bed each night listening to all the songs we're featuring in our concert.  It helps just to listen to it, without singing, so that it 'sinks in'.  I'm finally feeling like I can get these songs ready by the Holiday Concert coming up next month.  I'm also having some really good dreams lately, too, which was unexpected.

It would be really cool if someone would come and videotape us so that we can stick the concert up on YouTube, but then again, I'd be scared silly if they did.  I just think it would be kinda cute to sing Latin for my good friend Dick Day, LOL...

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in a choral society and you're singing Latin, here's some pointers:  A is "ah" as in "Father".  E is "eh" as in "Fed".  I is "EE".  Period.  O is "aw" as in "Fought".  U is "ooh".  Period.  Y is I which is "EE".  

Make light of your consonants and concentrate on your vowels.  Breathe in deeply without moving your chest or shoulders, and only breathe when you can sneak in a breath.  Which isn't often.  Always look at your director except when you're busy looking at the music.  Always follow the music except when you're busy looking at the director.  Um.  De-um.

De-e-e-um.  Daylight comin' and me wanna go home...