Me thinks it's time for a blog...

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