h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm now half way through the rehearsal process for a concert presentation of The Pirates of Penzance. This means I've been to 2 rehearsals, and there are 2 left.

It's a concert to raise money for the wonderful Macmillan Nurses, organised by someone who has a relative suffering from cancer. So it's for a good cause, and it's also a relatively stress-free venture, as we can still have our music scores in hand when we do it!

I'm singing in the chorus during the first act, and am then taking on the role of the Police Sergeant in the second, which is wonderful fun. It's a bass role, which is obviously very bizarre for me as a tenor, but he has two wonderfully amusing songs as well as some silly dialogue. Last night, those present (about half of the intended company) were very impressed with my low notes, notes which tenors should never be able to contemplate.

Learning the two songs was very easy, but there are some bits of recitative (spoken dialogue) and ensemble work which are very hard indeed. But it's all marvellous fun, and I'm so pleased to have been asked to do it.

[By the way, another rehearsal thread should appear over the weekend...]

When the foeman bares his steel
Tarantara tarantara!

Great stuff! Do you have to take up smoking to lower your voice? I wouldn't do it... especially if you are raising money for McMillan nurses.

Hard to say "no" when someone asks for you personally isn't it?

Pirates was the first G&S I was in, and for that reason one of my favorites.

and to make us more than merry let the Pirate bumper pass

No smoking - definitely not! But I am making sure that my throat is as clear as it can possibly be. I could suck a lemon, I suppose - that's supposed to help. I think I'll just try very hard to hit the low notes and just speak-sing if I feel things getting out of control.

A policeman's lot is not a happy one

It's nice to know Gilbert and Sullivan is still popular. They are such fun to watch.

How do you get down to that last Happy
...................................................One

I don't. That's the only note I've not yet managed to hit. I have two options, really. Either just mouth the words and let the basses in the chorus carry it, or surprise the audience by suddenly going into falsetto for two words. It's annoying, as when I sing 'They come in force with steady stride, our obvious course is now to hide' I have to get down to the note above the note for 'happy one' - and hold on to it for a bit - and have no problem.

Discovering your thresholds, you are.

Let the basses carry it. Not worth straining your voice for a scratch performance.

...That makes a difference of course, but ... I can not understand it at all.

Oh blah. I missed last week's rehearsal due to the person who was supposed to be giving me a lift forgetting. I got there this week, and I was abdolutely dire. We do the concert in three days, and I messed up almost every note I sing on my own. And I'm really, really not exaggerating. Lots and lots of practice in store for me!

Fear not, I am sure it will be alright. Looking forward to hearing how it goes. random

Even though I just live down the road from someone else who generally goes to same rehearsals I usually drive myself down to them. It isn't environmentally perfect, but makes up for it in convenience and maximising time spent at home with family, and not relying on others.
When the car isn't available though... I have to leave time to walk to rehearsal. At least that is an option for me.

Generally I'd say having the option to drive myself provides a better quality of life. Hope you get to the rest of the rehearsals and the performance goes well

It isn't normally a problem for me, as the group I do the shows with rehearses in Canterbury, where I live. It can be up to a 30 minute walk, but I don't mind that. And even with this one, in nearby Herne Bay, I'd been getting the bus. But by the time I realised I wasn't getting a lift, it was too late to catch the bus.

I used to live in Herne Bay. 121 Central Parade to be exact.
The tropical seas, waving palms and balmy nights.
I expect it's changed now.

Sounds lovely, Vestboy, to this landlocked Midwesterner.

Driving is such a part of the culture here that it seems strange to know people who have never learned how. But if we had decent public transportation, I suppose there would be people here who wouldn't drive either.

Ah, irony was lost on you, sorry. It is bitterly cold and windy and faces out onto the North Sea. In a bad winter our coal cellar would flood and we'd have to put on wellies to get coal for the fire - which wouldn't burn properly. In a very good summer the beach (stony) would be full of people with beer bellies, knotted hankies on their heads and trousers rolled up to below the knee. The men were pretty awful too.

Oh dear! My lack of knowledge about living near the sea is evident.

It's near a place called Bleane which I think is a grat name. A bit like Splott in Cardiff. I orignally came from a place called Acocks Green, honestly.

I quite like Herne Day, but Herne itself is nicer. And Herne Bay is indeed blooming cold!

Place names in the UK are colorful. About the only interesting ones in my area are old Indian names. We do have one small town in my state called Peculiar. I've always liked tht one.