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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 327996" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>G'day for Sunday.</p><p></p><p>TM, oddball nativity plays seem to be an essential ingredient of every Christmas. I think it's sensible to limit the number of friends to these sort of parties, it's best to have a success that isn't perhaps quite so exciting, than to risk a major meltdown because it all is too much for them to cope with.</p><p></p><p>We've had a fairly busy day today.</p><p>Church this morning (for me) and for husband, a lot of odd jobs including for his mother.</p><p>This afternoon we had the technical run-through for tonight's carols event. Technically it was a mess. Things that didn't work were just left with, "OK, we'll get it right tonight" which of course they didn't. We have a professional guy doing light and sound, I dont know how he stands it. I worked out where to seat my choir, carefully arranging chairs so people could walk through them to arrange themselves around the microphones. I had to repeatedly stop the organisers from bunching the chairs back up into a tiny little corner, which would have had choristers tipping chairs over etc every time they had to stand up to sing... then the choir was dismissed from rehearsal to go home, before we'd even rehearsed, let alone explained mike technique to them. I was given clear instructions on some last minute changes to the program, then when we actually got to perform tonight, things had been changed changed yet again and at one point the choir was left standing there waiting for the cue to sing, all except for one old dear who is blind and couldn't see me waving to her to stop singing, it wasn't our cue - yet. Turned out, the cue never arrived. Time to smile inanely and wave the choir to sit down again.</p><p></p><p>Overall the event did go off well, but I do find it frustrating sometimes when we make the same mistakes every flippin' time, and each time I try to say, "Let's get it right next time," people have forgotten. So once again I shut up and step back, doing my own bit as best as I can. Tonight I conducted a choir that rapidly shrank as kids departed, despite earlier enthusiasm to be involved. It was an amalgamation of two choirs and the organiser of the kids' choir decided to leave early, after her bit. So of course that meant her kids had to leave as well. Meanwhile I was trying to organise the harmony singers (who didn't know their parts) while still waving my arms to be seen, by singers who didn't even look up and who also weren't even listening to the fold-back to stay in time. One large and loud soprano in my choir (a recent recruit) 'forgot' everything I had told her about when to come in with harmony, when to slow down etc and just went ahead and did what she wanted. So much for singing in a choir - it felt like it was back to a group of individual singers, no longer a group I have been teaching to listen to one another, to learn to sing in a group. In a choir, no one voice should be audible above the others; but I can't teach that to some people, it seems. At some point I had to mentally shrug and tell myself, "It's OK. It's a relaxing evening, no need to stress about it."</p><p>I just wish I'd told myself before I hurt my shoulder with all the conducting!</p><p></p><p>I need to seriously consider - do I want to continue to take a seat way in the back as I did this year (and put up with minor irritations) or do I want to take a more prominent role with organisation next year, and have to feel personally responsible for the things that go wrong because people insist on taking on stuff they can't handle because they just won't learn from past experience?</p><p></p><p>A no-brainer, really. Which is why I was so far in the background this year, I guess... I've been involved in the organisation in past years, they clearly didn't want me involved this year (they held the meetings on the same night as our choir practices are held) and I seriously don't feel inclined to make any effort to get involved beyond this superficial level.</p><p></p><p>I've heard it said that banging your head against a wall feels really good when you stop.</p><p>I don't feel I've been able to stop yet.</p><p></p><p>Seriously - it could have been a lot worse. There were a lot of things that worked well. I need to seriously consider where to best expend my limited energies and what to leave to other people who can do what I do to a sufficiently acceptable standard. </p><p></p><p>Enjoy your Sunday. May it be less frustrating than mine was.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 327996, member: 1991"] G'day for Sunday. TM, oddball nativity plays seem to be an essential ingredient of every Christmas. I think it's sensible to limit the number of friends to these sort of parties, it's best to have a success that isn't perhaps quite so exciting, than to risk a major meltdown because it all is too much for them to cope with. We've had a fairly busy day today. Church this morning (for me) and for husband, a lot of odd jobs including for his mother. This afternoon we had the technical run-through for tonight's carols event. Technically it was a mess. Things that didn't work were just left with, "OK, we'll get it right tonight" which of course they didn't. We have a professional guy doing light and sound, I dont know how he stands it. I worked out where to seat my choir, carefully arranging chairs so people could walk through them to arrange themselves around the microphones. I had to repeatedly stop the organisers from bunching the chairs back up into a tiny little corner, which would have had choristers tipping chairs over etc every time they had to stand up to sing... then the choir was dismissed from rehearsal to go home, before we'd even rehearsed, let alone explained mike technique to them. I was given clear instructions on some last minute changes to the program, then when we actually got to perform tonight, things had been changed changed yet again and at one point the choir was left standing there waiting for the cue to sing, all except for one old dear who is blind and couldn't see me waving to her to stop singing, it wasn't our cue - yet. Turned out, the cue never arrived. Time to smile inanely and wave the choir to sit down again. Overall the event did go off well, but I do find it frustrating sometimes when we make the same mistakes every flippin' time, and each time I try to say, "Let's get it right next time," people have forgotten. So once again I shut up and step back, doing my own bit as best as I can. Tonight I conducted a choir that rapidly shrank as kids departed, despite earlier enthusiasm to be involved. It was an amalgamation of two choirs and the organiser of the kids' choir decided to leave early, after her bit. So of course that meant her kids had to leave as well. Meanwhile I was trying to organise the harmony singers (who didn't know their parts) while still waving my arms to be seen, by singers who didn't even look up and who also weren't even listening to the fold-back to stay in time. One large and loud soprano in my choir (a recent recruit) 'forgot' everything I had told her about when to come in with harmony, when to slow down etc and just went ahead and did what she wanted. So much for singing in a choir - it felt like it was back to a group of individual singers, no longer a group I have been teaching to listen to one another, to learn to sing in a group. In a choir, no one voice should be audible above the others; but I can't teach that to some people, it seems. At some point I had to mentally shrug and tell myself, "It's OK. It's a relaxing evening, no need to stress about it." I just wish I'd told myself before I hurt my shoulder with all the conducting! I need to seriously consider - do I want to continue to take a seat way in the back as I did this year (and put up with minor irritations) or do I want to take a more prominent role with organisation next year, and have to feel personally responsible for the things that go wrong because people insist on taking on stuff they can't handle because they just won't learn from past experience? A no-brainer, really. Which is why I was so far in the background this year, I guess... I've been involved in the organisation in past years, they clearly didn't want me involved this year (they held the meetings on the same night as our choir practices are held) and I seriously don't feel inclined to make any effort to get involved beyond this superficial level. I've heard it said that banging your head against a wall feels really good when you stop. I don't feel I've been able to stop yet. Seriously - it could have been a lot worse. There were a lot of things that worked well. I need to seriously consider where to best expend my limited energies and what to leave to other people who can do what I do to a sufficiently acceptable standard. Enjoy your Sunday. May it be less frustrating than mine was. Marg [/QUOTE]
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