Music and Handwaving

This past weekend was one of the more "musical" experiences I've had in a while. Things kicked off pretty solidly with Lamb of God, an oratorio written by Rob Gardner about the final days in the life of Jesus Christ. My stake had been working on the music for several months. At the last minute (about two or three weeks before the performance deadline), I was pulled in to help with the narration.

Doing the narration was a lot of fun (especially since I had a lot of people pay me some very nice compliments about my voice), but, honestly, I think I would have much rather been in the choir itself. I miss choir singing - it's about the only thing I think was actually better about my life when I was in high school. So to have such a solid opportunity to sing in a quality production and MISS it like I did... well, it's pretty sucky.

I got to LISTEN, though, and I have to say that, for a Mormon-written musical production, Lamb of God is EXCELLENT. And it may not even need the "Mormon" qualifier. It's basically the way Les Mis would have turned out if they'd written about Jesus rather than Jean Valjean.

I find that comparison actually makes a lot of sense - musically, Les Mis is VERY melodramatic, full of high emotion. Yet the drama and emotion is played very straight and very sincerely. The high drama and serious tone actually go very well with the story of the crucifixion. Stylistically, it's a very good match.

I also decided, during Lamb of God, that "Gloria" may just be the most enjoyable word to sing. You get the long, sliding "l" sound followed by the flip of the tongue on the "r," and it's just heavenly. Really mad I missed out on singing that number.

(By the way, if you want to hear Lamb of God, the whole thing is on Spotify, which I'm told is a thing that exists on the internet.)

Now, just because I wasn't in this one choir doesn't mean my life's completely devoid of music. In fact, I've been the choir director at church for several months now. Sunday, we finally had the opportunity to have a real rehearsal - meaning, we had more than two people show up. So we actually got to practice singing some music, and I got to show off my excellent directorial skills.

By "excellent," of course, I mean "crap." Turns out, I'm not very good.

Thankfully, I've got some "resources" to draw on. Y'all may not know this, but I used to be a reference librarian. Basically, that means that when I come across something I don't know, I like to hit the books.

I've got some good resources to draw on, too, most notably from my cousin Juan Carlos, who is awesome. He loaned me one of his old conducting textbooks, and it's been extraordinarily helpful, even in just the first chapter. For example, did you know that music conducting is about FAR MORE than waving your arm?

Seriously, I didn't know this, but it's true. When conducting music, the motion in your arm can originate in one of three places - the wrist, the elbow, or the shoulder. One of those three parts should move, and the other two stay as still as possible to avoid a flailing, limp effect that is difficult to read. Quieter dynamics are indicated by smaller motions, so a pianissimo can be conducted by just the slightest motion of the wrist and fingers. A dramatic fortissimo requires the whole arm from the shoulder down.

Maybe this sounds obvious to everyone else, but I was pretty stoked to find out about the subtle motions that go into conducting. See, if there's one thing I hate, it's not knowing something. But if there's one thing I love, it's learning something new.