Monday, August 19, 2013

Table for 200??


Where would YOU seat nearly 200 of your best friends?


First warmups of the 77th season for the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir


That's the task we have faced in preparation for last week's inaugural rehearsal of the 77th season of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir.

Working with audition and membership coordinator Ann Gerritsen (who also serves as our resident expert on Excel Spreadsheets!) along with conducting fellow Bryan Stenson, we developed our seating chart: 180 voices, 8 sections (first soprano, second soprano, first alto, etc...), 9 rows, 20-21 chairs in each row....you get the picture.

At T minus two hours and thirty minutes (that is, 4:30 pm before our 7 pm start time), we staff (Michael P, Andrew L, Kris S, yours truly) plus ever-dedicated singer and tenor section leader Karl S started wrangling chairs, music stands, podium, piano, tables and more. Adjust the rows, scooting this way and that...watch the sight lines.

In short order, we had it....a choir director's dream! All 180 seats neatly arranged with sufficient room to maneuver, ability to see the conductor through the "windows," even a convenient aisle down the middle. The rehearsal hall that had looked like a war zone (three months of summer music camps had taken their toll), was now a gleaming harbinger of the great musical rehearsal to come.

By evening's end, of course, all that would change. Updates to our roster, adjustments for voice type/height/etc, additions, deletions, changes. We knew we'd have to re-do it for next week. Such is the life of the singers in the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. Though it may not be where you were last week, we WILL have a seat with YOUR name on it for our next rehearsal.

No matter where we are in the room, the drama of the Verdi Requiem (and the joy of singing together) is certain to find us. To music!

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