Last Rehearsal

Tonight was my last rehearsal for my church gig.

Rev. Right Wing has mandated that the choir directors lose the classical repertoire, set up bleachers in the front for the choir, hire a guitarist and drummer, and perform only Contemporary Christian music (aka: religious music for people who hate music) from now on.

As a response, the choir directors quit.

I'm bummed. It was a good gig. I learned so much from the choir directors, and from my fellow singers. We sang some great music - tonight's rehearsal was basically us singing choir favorites: What Sweeter Music, Biebl's Ave Maria, Greater Love Hath No Man - and had fun. We had our little inside jokes - anyone picking up old copies of my music will occasionally come across a Pi sign, or a Julie Andrews The or a Carol Burnett or a Lawrence Welk.

When I started singing there 6 years ago, I had a good ear, but poor sight reading skills. Now I'm confident at sight-reading, have an even better ear, and can tell a G# from an A.

But all is not over for me. The choir directors are going to a new church, and I'm going with them. It's going to be very different for us - the new church has a much less experienced choir, and it's a Catholic church, which will of course be familiar to me, if not welcome. So I'll still be collecting a paycheck. I'll miss what we had, though.