I have the privilege of singing in the Seattle Women's Chorus. Aside from the fact that the community of women that gathers is inspiring, it is also amazing to be able to regularly sing in a choir. So many of us sing as kids but don't take the initiative to find choirs as adults and frankly, life gets in the way. Beyond the ordinary great things that happen in a choral setting, there are the moments - those musical instance where things click, are spell-binding and usually render you speechless. We in the music community live for these moments.
As a former conducting student, I'm always amazed at how a slight flick of your hand can make a whole choir breathe or cut off on a note. Wow. Or the times when a choir takes the time to get all 150 + voices to sing the exact same vowel and tone so you come as close to one-voice-nirvana as possible. That's amazing. Last night I was struck by one of these moments.
Breathing, it seems so simple, right? Out of all the things breathing means, the things I like the most are the peace that pause brings and the anticipation of something that is coming. That is especially true for breathing within a song. There's the break from sound and then the anticipation of what sounds, words and harmonies will come next. Well, last night there was a moment in a song where we all had to stop and breathe together (not always the case in choral music). (Insert collective sigh.) To hear that many women and feel those feelings in one instant just renders a girl speechless. I can live on that moment for a long time.
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