Ah, to sing in a choir again!

I have been thinking a lot lately about the joys of choral singing versus solo singing, and it occurs to me that I envy you, Ilonina, for your involvement in your choirs. I have not sung in a choir since 1987, when we were living in K-W and I sang with the K-W Phi1harmonic Choir under the direction of one Howard Dick. Yes, that is really his name. There is a large Mennonite population in that area. It was a great choir in size, not necessarily in quality. With 180 voices, all drawn voluntarily from the community, you�re going to get many citizens who are well past their singing prime. But we performed some great pieces, including Verdi�s Requiem with Mo Forrester as soloist, and I just loved singing in that large ensemble.

Before that, when we lived in Michigan, I sang with the U of M mass choir. I hated the conductor, but I loved the experience. And before that I sang under the greatest choral director ever at Western, the whole reason I went to that university in the first place. Prior to that it was the Toronto Mende1ssohn Choir, under the direction of the late E1mer Eis1er, probably the greatest large community choir in Canada. We did so much wonderful repertoire, most of which I�ve forgotten now (after all, it has been 26 years). That�s like more than half my lifetime, as my lovely daughter (who happens to be very good with numbers) points out.

I have read that people who sing in choirs experience a euphoria caused by the release of endorphins and an elevation in T-cells, so that they are more disease resistant. I don�t know about the latter, but I can sure attest to the former. This would also account for the �after concert shennanigans� that choir members get up to, like reprising the Hallelujah chorus from Messiah at the bar after the concert. I miss that stuff. I want to sing in a choir again, but the choirs around here are so awful, I just can�t bring myself to do it. And then I have this �soloist� status to maintain now, which means I can�t �lower� myself to the same level as the common chorister in these parts. Alas. There is no hope.

On the other hand, being a soloist has different rewards. There�s the adulation of the public, which you certainly don�t get as a common chorister. But that isn�t why I do it. I just love to sing, and I love to perform publicly. When it is going well, there is so much energy and excitement generated by this one small body of mine, that it is like an electrical field that permeates the concert hall. I�m finding this extremely difficult to write about. The reasons for actually getting up on a stage and exhibiting one�s talent defy explanation. Obviously the audience delights in this exhibitionism, since there is always a demand and an audience for soloists. I guess I can only say that there is a certain �thrill�, or adrenaline rush, in being a soloist. I wonder if it�s the same for instrumentalists.

We were at the symphony last night, and heard the most beautiful violin playing from an 18-year-old prodigy, playing the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch. So much talent! Such a shayne punim! All the middleaged women in the audience (including yours truly) wanted to take him home and feed him. Ha ha! Once you get to a certain age, we all become Jewish mothers!

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