I really do own this dress. But I don't wear it anymore, because it's nearly impossible to get in and out of, and the straps are always stretching too far and becoming useless. (It's a defective dress design—if I struggle to take it on and off, I'm sure everyone else wearing it does, too.) I also own the shoes, although I normally wear my sparkly silver latin shoes, which are shorter, thus assuming that I don't tower over my partner, or wobble all over the place. (I used to have great balance in my black shoes, but after a semester away I just can't do it anymore.) I also have the necklance, and the earrings, and the make-up although the chances of me wearing all three at once isn't very high. (The longer one competes, the less one cares about fripperies.) I suppose I should explain. This is my latin dress from last year. I think it cost me all of $10.50. It is covered in dark blue glitter, and it sheds constantly. The gliiter winds up all over me, my partner, and anywhere I sit or stand for very long. Palm Sunday was nice. We had a choir anthem, and two pieces from the bell choir, and still finished by 11:30. That's hardly normal for Lutherans, but, due to the size of the sanctuary, it isn't possible to have handbells and communion. Without communion, the service is always much shorter. Of course, all the churches up here seem to specialize in little dinky thin palms. Palm branches should be big, and green, and leafy! And then, it was time to go to the gospel choir concert. I had the worse trouble figuring out to wear (I have red and black items in my wardrobe, but not that really go together, and they only mentioned this requirement a week or so ago... I think I may have ranted about it). The "rehearsal" before-hand wasn't very encouraging... we only got around to warming up about five minutes prior to the concert. Then, the pep talk/prayer session was rather overwhelming... but not in a good way. Caucophony in a small, highly accoustic ensemble room is not a good thing. And I very much disgreed with "forget about the audience, this is about us." I believe that sacred music, in a public setting, is about the audience, not the singers. It's our job to make it a spiritual experience for them. God can't stand selfishness, and he wants us to bring people closer to him. I think their point was well meant (and, of course, thinking too much about the audience can be distracting), but I very much disagree with it. My dad said something at dinner that seems relevant: in this sort of group, you have to focus on the music, because as soon as you start with the theology, there's trouble. (He worded it better than that.) But the actual concert was lots of fun. (Except maybe the first song, which they did last semester, and didn't bother to teach. I didn't know any of the words, and there I was standing in the front row, because some of the shorter sopranos went and wore tall heels.) It came very close to going overboard at the end, but managed not to. (Probably because the audience wouldn't play along.) And my parents were there! Yay! Afterwards, we went to dinner and persuaded Heather and Robbie to come with us. We discussed gospel choir, college stuff, and politics over steak and okra. (I had three large helpings of okra.) Now, I'd best do some reading. (I read eighty pages of Rousseau at the competition yesterday, but that only got me ahead in one class.) ~Erin, 9:23 PM Comments: Post a Comment
