My choral audition yesterday was surprisingly fun. First, I went into the non-voice-major room and sang for a couple of people I didn't know who looked like they were willing and ready to hate everyone who came in. I had prepared nothing to sing for them, so the accompanist was like, "So, you just wanna do something like Amazing Grace or My Country Tis of Thee? Something easy?" A few measures in - slightly less than four, I think - they stopped me and sent me over to the majors room because they were behind and supposedly they couldn't place me into the choir I wanted to get into (Pro Arte, the early music group). (I suppose they let me start singing for them because they assumed my expectations were unrealistic - surely a theory major wouldn't actually have an okay voice!)
So I went over to the majors room. To my delight, of the five choral conducting majors that were helping with the auditions, I knew four of them. I'd sung for two in my summer ensemble, one of which I'd become friends with in a class, I'd sung for one in Contemporary Vocal Ensemble (CVE) and a friend's recital, and I'd sung for the other in an extremely difficult composition recital. I also knew the department head, who'd led the summer ensemble and, because I could actually sing audibly and was male (still am, don't worry), had excused several absences for dubious reasons. Anyway, it was a really good audition. My voice was feeling very free and clear, much more than usual. (Amazing what a 10-minute warm-up will do.) The guy who I think runs the choir I want to get into was looking at me with keen interest and asking a lot of questions, which I think is a good sign.
Okay, so I guess that's all not that interesting. But it's funny what sorts of experiences turn into highlights of a day when you're around a lot of people you know and performing well.
Other recent highlights include:
Making pad thai, the shopping for ingredients for which took half a day (two trips to the tiny International Market for sauces, some nice cilantro, and Chantaboon rice noodles, one to Sahara Mart for tofu, and one to Marsh for bean sprouts, shrimp, eggs and a lime).
Buying the shrimp for the pad thai, when the slightly high-voiced and very rotund man behind the counter told me in his Southern accent about the lady who comes in every Friday and buys one shrimp for her "enemy." ("I'm not sure how she pronounced it," he explained. "It's not a fish, but it's kind of..." "An anemone?" I asked. "Yeah, one of those!")
Dressing up in slacks, a belt, and a nice shirt for the exam (for people wishing to skip the course I teach - I felt very professional) I gave the other day and, on my way out, encountering one of my students for the summer: in fact, if I'm not mistaken, the one who wrote on his evaluation, "Should wear pants more often. Less t-shirts. Hair was distracting." (Incidentally, my hair has also been cut since then.) He looked moderately amused.