Singing with the ROS, with the RPO

Eric Townell leading ROS rehearsal

I haven’t sung in a large mixed chorus since I lived in Connecticut, over 20 years ago. I sang with two choruses there: the Greenwich Choral Society and the Fairfield County Chorale, but neither suited me. I quit the first after I was fired from being music librarian, a job I was “volunteered” for… I quit the second because I disliked the director, who was much more passionate about his boy choir gig (after his death, his preference for young boys became clearer…). Plus, all that religious music large choruses sing... But when I learned last spring that the Rochester Oratorio Society (ROS) would be singing two of my all-time favorite large choral works – Carmina Burana and Chichester Psalms – I couldn’t resist the temptation to audition.

Chichester Psalms

My college chorus performed this work, and even though Bernstein is very specific that the soprano soloist NOT be a woman, I am quite sure I recall ours being female, albeit with a ‘boyish’ voice. Later, as my fanaticism for Stephen Sondheim developed and I devoured any book on him I could find, I learned this fascinating nugget:

“Bernstein was nothing if not utilitarian with his music, and the ‘Officer Krupke’ tune appeared on Sondheim’s desk because it had been cut from Candide…. Less well known than the exchanges with Candide is the fact that a rejected first-scene number for the Jets, ‘Mix!’ reappeared nine years later as the ‘Lama rag’shu goyim’ section of the slow movement of Chichester Psalms. Few choristers singing this work can have been aware that the ‘heathen’ were originally raging to Sondheim’s words.

            Mix!

            Make a mess of ‘em!

            Pay the Puerto Ricans back, 

            Make a mess of ‘em!

            If you let us take a crack,

            There’ll be less of ‘em,

            There’ll be less of ‘em.”                                 

(Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals, Stephen Banfield, pp. 35-36)

Carmina Burana – so many consonants, so little time!

This piece is just pure pleasure, both to sing and to hear. Back in my NYC days, I attended a summer sing at Carnegie Hall of this score, and sang a lot of “ta ta ta” instead of the words - I had no chance of actually learning them properly in the two-hour session. So, I looked forward to spending quality time with it under Eric Townell’s expert direction (I am also greatly impressed with his rehearsal management skills). I am taking his first-rehearsal advice to the chorus that “it’s important to sing so your voice feels healthy at the end of it” very seriously, because both performances are going to be long nights! Luckily, the ROS has already performed this work 14 times since the late 1950s (when they actually received a good-luck telegram for Carl Orff himself!), and many times recently, so the core chorus is already capable of performing it. That makes it easier for a newbie to learn, although it’s been a challenge erasing from my mind the spoof lyrics of one of my favorite YouTube videos: O Four Tuna. 

This is going to be an amazing experience to be a part of, and it will be a terrific concert to attend. The ROS is the most organized chorus I’ve ever been a part of, and of course you can’t beat singing with the RPO. I’m also excited that four of our out-of-town friends are going to visit us specially to hear this concert!

For more information on the concert and tickets, click here: RPO website

(What I write is my personal view. That's obviously always true, but I've been asked to add that disclaimer.)

Election Inspection

I have never given much thought to the people who work at our polling station – the ones who check you in and give you the ballot, or the ones who help out at the machines. But after taking a 3-hour training session (and a test!) to become an election inspector, I have a newfound respect for the individuals who take on this civic duty.

Although I was warned by my friend Nanette, who acted as an election inspector in Florida, I didn’t believe that the process would be similar here in New York. The warning wasn’t about the duties (they’re fairly rote, unless an exception occurs), but about the hours – morning till night. I envisioned a shift of, I don’t know, 4 hours? 6 at the most? Nope. In New York, inspectors have to arrive at 5am, an hour before the polls open, and cannot leave until 10pm, an hour after the polls close. My mind went numb at the thought, but I was too embarrassed to get up and leave the training only 15 minutes into it. And once I heard what is involved, I understood the need for the long day, since any discontinuity would provide an opportunity for compromising the integrity of the process.

The Image Cast machine,
which keeps a paper
audit trail

The attention to detail, and allowances for all sorts of exceptions, like incorrect markings, over-voting, spoiled ballots, and ballot reconciliation, is impressive. New York also has several laws aimed at making voting accessible: machines that are handicap accessible (and not just for people in wheelchairs, but for the blind, as well), Spanish interpreters in districts with a certain percentage of Spanish speakers, and the lack of requirement for identification (other than a non-rigorous signature authentication). 

Very specific table setup instructions!

Although I went into the training thinking it was something I could volunteer for, it turns out that election inspectors are paid $11/hour. So now I actually think it’s my duty not to be an inspector, but to let those who needs that money earn it. My civic duty, which I take very much to heart, is to show up on Election Day, vote, and thank them for their service.

I certainly hope that this election brings record turnout for a mid-term (unlike a Republican associate’s actual out-loud hope for bad weather, which tends to decrease minority voting), and that the egregious Republican attacks on minority voting rights in states like Georgia, Kansas, and North Dakota are corrected by the 2020 election. It is mind-numbing that in the 21^stcentury voter-suppression is still a thing.