One final note (heh) on music, kind of as an epilogue to what I wrote a few weeks ago
.The other day I was listening to a podcast by one of my favorite, tragically geeky bands, They Might Be Giants. I thought I'd heard most of their music, even from the (relatively few) albums I don't own, but then a song came on that I'd never heard before that stopped me in my tracks:
How Can I Sing Like a Girl?Now, it should be said that over the years the Johns (as they call themselves: John Linnel and John Flansburgh) have been incredibly prolific and have produced a huge catalog of music, not all of which has made it onto an album. (there are at least two blogs that I know of that are posting regular updates highlighting some of its weirder corners). In reading these blogs and listening to this podcast, it occurred to me for the first time that they actually sing quite a bit about gender issues! One more reason to like them. :)
Ok Arcee, so maybe this comment is completely out of the blue, but I read this post and then scooted off to sacrament meeting, and found myself at the end of the meeting in the foyer just out of sight of the congregation as the last speaker concluded.
ReplyDeleteThen the closing hymn began, it was "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet", I listened to the congregation sing, soaking it in when I heard a particularly strong beautiful and full soprano voice near the back of the room, as I focused on the voice, I began thinking through the sisters in the ward who could possibly sing so well, then I realized as I looked more closely that it was our TEACHER'S QUORUM PRESIDENT!
A truly beautiful young man who has been singing in a boy's choir for years, I thought by now surely puberty would have robbed him of his Vienna Boy's Choir level voice, but not so, what a gift! I thought of your post and fought back inappropriate envy, that I wish I could sing like a girl too!
Wow, that's pretty great that your TQ president unashamedly sings that high. Usually by 14-15 boys are pretty self-conscious about that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteSo Arcee, I am on a roll on this thread. That young man is pretty unashamed to be sure, he knows he is good, and doesn't worry about what others think. I admire that in him so much, I was nowhere near like that at his age or two or three times his age!
ReplyDeleteChanging subject slightly but still on music and singing, before I joined the Church I knew very little about singing. I have a pretty poor singing voice or so I have been told. My district missionaries on my mission tried to teach me how to sing the hymns so we could sing in a sacrament meeting. My voice is naturally kind of high so the Sister missionary that was working with me tried to get me to sing the tenor part, problem was I couldn't get low enough to hit the notes (but she could!), and I didn't understand the part anyway, she was a natural alto, so she walked me through the alto part, which I could sing.
That was 28 years ago and I have been singing the alto part ever since! As I started to focus on my Laurie side, singing has been something I can do that makes me feel good even in Church. I love getting near a Sister with a strong alto voice so I can tune in.
Last fall I was asked to speak at a regional single adult conference (which was a room mostly full of older sisters), we sang a hymn and then it was my turn to immediately stand and speak for 45 minutes, the problem was I so enjoyed singing with all those rich voices, I totally spaced into Laurie mode, and had to suddenly do a complete and quick character change as I stepped to the pulpit!
Haha, I can see how that would have raised a few eyebrows if Laurie had given that talk! I'm enjoying the tenor part in choir, but when I sing with the congregation I struggle a bit to pick it out, because it's often so unlike the melody I've grown up with; a lot of times I'll just sing the soprano/melody part and transpose it down a notch or two.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on singing alto--I can hit the notes, but they sure sound funny right now.
ReplyDeleteIn Europe guys (grown men) sing soprano all the time.