It's August. The end of summer. The return of the early morning school bus and the late night choir rehearsal. Thankfully, the schedule gradually returns this year, with the kids going back to school last week (shifting our morning routine to a VERY early 5:45am), a start to children's choir at ORUUC this week (more on that in a moment), then school for me and Knoxville Choral Society returning later in the month. By the last week in August, everything will be back in full swing and my life will consist of endless amounts of preparing, rehearsing, organizing, studying, listening, parenting, driving, singing... and very little sleep. So, in this calm before the storm, I wanted to make sure I got a blog update written.
I'm thrilled to announce that I am now ORUUC's Children's Choir Director! This K-8 group meets weekly and performs in service about once a month. We kick off this coming Sunday and I'm really looking forward to spending time with our youngest singers. Special thank you to David Ensley, the new Music Director at ORUUC, for giving me this opportunity for ongoing professional development. I've spent the past week digging into kids music books thinking about what's possible for our crew. I've enjoyed discussing possibilities with one choir member, my 9-year-old daughter. She's getting remarkably good at telling me which songs sound fun and which sound boring. Ha!
I've also made headway on the music for Rev. Carol Bodeau's installation at Westside UU Church in October. It takes time to critically look at songs for their fit -- considering how the lyrics match the themes of the service, how the sound (tempo, rhythms, melody, etc.) fits with the flow of the service, how the difficulty compares with the amount of time we have to rehearse and the singers who volunteered. I've been taking my time, knowing this process will get faster once I have more experience in selecting music. And I've really been enjoying listening to all sorts of new music, exploring the UU Musicians Network database, and reaching out to UU composers to learn more about their pieces.
I'm also all squared away with school this semester. I'm back at Pellissippi State CC for Music Theory I & Ear Training I, along with individual piano instruction. Classes start in a few weeks, on August 24.
Knoxville Choral Society and Knoxville Chamber Chorale also start back up later this month, with KCS performing a Fall concert and with the Knoxville Symphony's Clayton Holiday Concerts and KCC performing with the Knoxville Opera and Knoxville Chamber Orchestra's Classical Christmas.
So, with my new Children's Choir responsibilities... and my work with Westside UU Church for Rev. Bodeau's installation... and my music classes at Pellissippi State... and Knoxville Choral Society's fall concerts... and Knoxville Chamber Chorale's opera production with the Knoxville Opera... I am ensured a very musical Fall. And honestly... I can't wait!
