Choir practice
Apr. 17th, 2003 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaneramosChoir practice last night. The Waterloo-Wellington Rainbow Chorus has been a blessing to my life over the past couple of years. Four of my closet friends are in the choir: Sylvie, Jon, Bob (the director) and his partner, Mark. I've always had difficulty fitting into groups, but with these friends I'm learning to overcome my hangups and get along with the kind of people who used to scare me away. In other words, I have become more tolerant.
It is a GLBT choir. I better explain that: gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and friends. The friends part is important. Several straight women joined shortly after the choir formed eight years ago, they have stuck with it all along, they're sopranos, and they rock!
Our spring concert will be on April 26. All winter, I didn't know whether I would be able to do it. I had hoped the doctor would schedule my surgery several weeks earlier. When it was set for March 25, I doubted I could get back on my feet soon enough. After the first surgery in October I was essentially bed-ridden for three weeks.
But this time I have recovered much faster. In fact I made it to rehearsal last week and stood there singing for two hours without getting sore or tired.
We're working on our first all-Canadian program. But we chose a wide variety of songs, from a Renaissance piece arranged by Canuck composer Healy Willan to Celine Dion's That's the Way It Is. My favourites are a French-Canadian love song, Cent mille chansons, and Rita McNeil's sentimental ballad about Cape Breton, Home I'll Be. It puts knots in my throat, and my friend Crystal doing the solo has such a sweet, sensual voice!
My favourite time of the week is going out with the friends for a drink after Wednesday night rehearsals. Typically, the gay men always sit at one end of the table, the lesbians at the other. But at least we do it together and laugh about it. There's a group of young women who are all close friends, and they're a hoot. As time goes on we cross the boundaries and do more things together, talk more. Even though Sylvie and I are quieter, we act as catalysts, because we're single and hang out together. Our experiences are all different, but we're learning to share them. That's what community should be.
It is a GLBT choir. I better explain that: gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and friends. The friends part is important. Several straight women joined shortly after the choir formed eight years ago, they have stuck with it all along, they're sopranos, and they rock!
Our spring concert will be on April 26. All winter, I didn't know whether I would be able to do it. I had hoped the doctor would schedule my surgery several weeks earlier. When it was set for March 25, I doubted I could get back on my feet soon enough. After the first surgery in October I was essentially bed-ridden for three weeks.
But this time I have recovered much faster. In fact I made it to rehearsal last week and stood there singing for two hours without getting sore or tired.
We're working on our first all-Canadian program. But we chose a wide variety of songs, from a Renaissance piece arranged by Canuck composer Healy Willan to Celine Dion's That's the Way It Is. My favourites are a French-Canadian love song, Cent mille chansons, and Rita McNeil's sentimental ballad about Cape Breton, Home I'll Be. It puts knots in my throat, and my friend Crystal doing the solo has such a sweet, sensual voice!
My favourite time of the week is going out with the friends for a drink after Wednesday night rehearsals. Typically, the gay men always sit at one end of the table, the lesbians at the other. But at least we do it together and laugh about it. There's a group of young women who are all close friends, and they're a hoot. As time goes on we cross the boundaries and do more things together, talk more. Even though Sylvie and I are quieter, we act as catalysts, because we're single and hang out together. Our experiences are all different, but we're learning to share them. That's what community should be.
