Hello, everyone! I trust everyone is well-fed and content after Thanksgiving. Still enjoy leftovers, I hope? While I did not get a chance to partake of some mashies and stuffing, I shall more than make up for that at Christmas time. Most of you by now know that I am flying home for a few weeks. I will be home Dec. 20-Jan 7. Just a couple of weeks, but enough time to enjoy the Christmas and New Year's holidays, and actually go to church on Christmas Eve, hooray!
It's been an uneventful week, so to make up for it, here are some of Sergei's most recent gems. Most of these are directed at the sopranos, but other voice parts get their share as well. At any rate, it's Sergei, and those who know him will immediately understand where I"m coming from. :)
1. "Tell the story." A classic in its own right.
2. "Tenors, try not to sing like a xylophone."
3. "You sing so quiet. You're so fragile, somebody touches you, you fall over." (Sergei speaking to the second sopranos)
4. "Don't do it."
5. "Don't shoot men!" (Sergei telling the sopranos and altos not to stress the "men" of Amen in the Cum Sancto Spiritu movement from the Rossini).
6. "Illness...lose time." (Sergei lamenting the fact that the sopranos constantly enter later than they should have)
7. "Sing piano, but text fortissimo." (You work this one out for yourselves. :))
8. "It's not important." (The words for the tango)
9. "Spend your energy for accent, not for mmm!"
10. "Better if you will not breathe together."
11. "Don't cry."
12. "Don't breathe, it's the law." (In reference to breathing before Virgine in the first few measures of Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus)
13."Sopranos, you have no emotion. You sing la la la, and then, oh, I'm supposed to sing, and it's too late..."
14. "Sopranos, don't make this balloon."
15. "Altos, do you want to sing?" (This isn't a Sergeism, this is my afterthought after the altos didn't come in to sing their Amen at the start of the fugue)
16. "Sopranos, you have panic in your eyes."
17. "Everything is perfect, but you make one big mistake."
18. "It must grow up."
19. "Sopranos, your piano works well here." (This was said during a song in which they were supposed to sing forte.)
20. "You're like an electric piano." (directed at tenors during "Il est ne le divin enfant"
21. "Is it possible to sing legato or will it not French?"
22."You're completely like mice!"
That is just a sampling of what MIC rehearsals are like. Today was more productive than usual because we actually sang probably the most difficult movement from the Petite Messe Solenelle, the Cum Sancto Spiritu, which contains a crazy fugue, which I had until today not sung with the choir, so it was very helpful to run through the movement a couple of times. Moscow friends, get ready, our concerts are fast approaching. Dec 10 and 14 at St. Andrew's, 19.30 start time, 450 rubles at the door. Hope to see you there! Also, St. Andrew's is having its lessons and carols service Dec. 12 (Sunday) at 18.30, with a reception at the Marriott to follow! Bring your friends, be amazed by the glorious harmonies of Rossini and the classic Christmas you all know and love.
Talk soon, and I hope to see you at the concert! :D
Peace and love,
Comrade Jon
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Why I love Russian
Hello out there in Winthrop-land, in Cape Cod-land, in Rhode "I"-Land (sorry for the cheap pun), in Russia-land, in England-land, and elsewhere! How are you this fine Saturday? I have to say I am soooooo grateful for this four day weekend! As some of you know, Thursday was the day of unity in Russia, so we got a day off, and we got yesterday off as well, resulting in a fantastic four day weekend. Unfortunately, we have to work next Saturday to make it up, and because we'll be on a Friday schedule for that day, I'll be teaching from 3:30-9:35 in the evening. Boo. Oh well, Christmas is coming, and with Christmas...our choir concerts! :D
Before I expand upon why Sergei was in his element today, I want to share an example of why I love the Russian language. Some of you think may think me crazy for devoting my free time to reading books about punctuation, syntax and linguistics in Russian. Well, you would be right. But occasionally textbooks provide some really hilarious sentences. For example, to demonstrate the importance of logic in speech, and how an illogical sentence (or text) can have unintended humorous results, I will write an sentence in Russian from a textbook by professor И.В. Голуб.
Обешаю не жить. (There was a sentence preceding this, but I don't remember it, and besides, it lacks the ridiculousness of the sentiment implied here. I promise not to live. What the hell? Oh Russian. I really should write these down, just as I write down Sergei quotes, Sara Greene quotes from the infamous trip to NYC, Philly and D.C, and Maureen quotes, which will stand the test of time and live on for all eternity.
But now we move on to the choir. Sergei, as you know, is conductor of the Moscow International Choir. His directions are, well, unique, to say the least. He tells us to "be beautiful", to "not squeeze the juice", and to "not sing like mice". Today, however, was epic. In one song, he implored the sopranos not to yell, but instead of yelling, he said "Don't cry." I nearly cried from laughter. In "Carol of the Bells", Sergei implored the sopranos (he often gives these hilarious directions to the sopranos, LOL), to sing piano, but text fortissimo. :) At the end of rehearsal, he told us that we had panic in our eyes. One of my favorite moments, was when Sergei told us to sing either piano and then forte, or громко, а потом очень громко (this was during Joy to the World), and then after we sang "Небо и земля", во время которой Сергей сказал, что у сопрано хорошо получается пиано. ("Heaven and earth", during which Sergei said that the sopranos sang piano amazingly, even though they should have sang loud). :D Gotta love our Sergei. :)
I love this time of year. I won't love having to work an absurd amount of hours next week, but I love singing Christmas carols. We're even singing my favorite, O Holy Night, hooray! And I even got the French pronunciation down for "Il est ne le divin enfant", yay! One more French song to go...and I'm still confused has to how a tango (yes, Chris and Ester, we're doing the Tango..pa rum pum param piram) relates to the Christmas season, but Sergei has spoken. And so has my quill. ;) Have a lovely day, my friends! Further updates to come! For now, this is Comrade Jon, signing out! Peace and love to all!
Before I expand upon why Sergei was in his element today, I want to share an example of why I love the Russian language. Some of you think may think me crazy for devoting my free time to reading books about punctuation, syntax and linguistics in Russian. Well, you would be right. But occasionally textbooks provide some really hilarious sentences. For example, to demonstrate the importance of logic in speech, and how an illogical sentence (or text) can have unintended humorous results, I will write an sentence in Russian from a textbook by professor И.В. Голуб.
Обешаю не жить. (There was a sentence preceding this, but I don't remember it, and besides, it lacks the ridiculousness of the sentiment implied here. I promise not to live. What the hell? Oh Russian. I really should write these down, just as I write down Sergei quotes, Sara Greene quotes from the infamous trip to NYC, Philly and D.C, and Maureen quotes, which will stand the test of time and live on for all eternity.
But now we move on to the choir. Sergei, as you know, is conductor of the Moscow International Choir. His directions are, well, unique, to say the least. He tells us to "be beautiful", to "not squeeze the juice", and to "not sing like mice". Today, however, was epic. In one song, he implored the sopranos not to yell, but instead of yelling, he said "Don't cry." I nearly cried from laughter. In "Carol of the Bells", Sergei implored the sopranos (he often gives these hilarious directions to the sopranos, LOL), to sing piano, but text fortissimo. :) At the end of rehearsal, he told us that we had panic in our eyes. One of my favorite moments, was when Sergei told us to sing either piano and then forte, or громко, а потом очень громко (this was during Joy to the World), and then after we sang "Небо и земля", во время которой Сергей сказал, что у сопрано хорошо получается пиано. ("Heaven and earth", during which Sergei said that the sopranos sang piano amazingly, even though they should have sang loud). :D Gotta love our Sergei. :)
I love this time of year. I won't love having to work an absurd amount of hours next week, but I love singing Christmas carols. We're even singing my favorite, O Holy Night, hooray! And I even got the French pronunciation down for "Il est ne le divin enfant", yay! One more French song to go...and I'm still confused has to how a tango (yes, Chris and Ester, we're doing the Tango..pa rum pum param piram) relates to the Christmas season, but Sergei has spoken. And so has my quill. ;) Have a lovely day, my friends! Further updates to come! For now, this is Comrade Jon, signing out! Peace and love to all!
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