Sometimes you have an experience so wonderful that you know it can never be equalled or bettered. Or, at least, you're pretty sure it's the Best Ever.
What do you do after that?
Especially when you've got a tendency to see the glass half empty. And an overdeveloped talent for harsh comparison. Do you decide to opt out of repeats because they are guaranteed to disappoint?
I say not. Do it again!
Last year I was privileged to sing in an amazing performance of the Brahms Requiem in Carnegie Hall. This isn't unique - there were nearly 200 of us! But by every measure a chorus singer can use, it was a supreme peak experience.
This year I was also privileged to be invited to sing (almost) the same music with a couple of suburban community choirs. After sorting a few logistics questions, I leapt at the opportunity.
It was not New York. By a wide margin. By turns, that difference was painful, frustrating, funny. I also discovered the difference was also irrelevant. So what, if this time round the experience is not going to be equal or better than last time?
That "can't match the peak" experience had its own unique and valuable qualities. I had a chance to sing again with some old friends, to build some new friendships, to see the challenges of the music resolved in a different way. It was a privilege. I was singing the Brahms Requiem for the 3rd time in 3 years! We never know when these chances will come again
And when we clambered up the scaffolding in one venue, and squeezed into the church pews in another, we were all motivated with the same love of the music, love of the audience, love of the conductor, love of each other as collaborators in creating the beautiful fleeting magic that is live music.
It's ALWAYS a Peak Experience if you do it with passion and joy
Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts
Blogging every day of June?
well, not so much. Life got so interesting to experience there was little time to write.
There was, in no particular order:
singing in Carnegie Hall,
shopping in SoHo - 5 pairs of shoes & nearly 3 specs frames,
art at the Guggenheim, with a side-order of deepening friendship, an opportunity to share timethat real life at home would never allow,
antiquitity and fearsome modernity at the Met, with another friendly bonus,
dancing to the blues till the small hours of the morning,
joining a party and having a fun little flirtation,
a glimpse of what's the big deal of mirrored buildings
...and all this before I got to the really serious bit. It will be weeks before it's all caught up. Patience, grasshoppers
There was, in no particular order:
singing in Carnegie Hall,
shopping in SoHo - 5 pairs of shoes & nearly 3 specs frames,
art at the Guggenheim, with a side-order of deepening friendship, an opportunity to share timethat real life at home would never allow,
antiquitity and fearsome modernity at the Met, with another friendly bonus,
dancing to the blues till the small hours of the morning,
joining a party and having a fun little flirtation,
a glimpse of what's the big deal of mirrored buildings
...and all this before I got to the really serious bit. It will be weeks before it's all caught up. Patience, grasshoppers
How'd ya like them apples?
...better this time round.
Last time I came to New York I hated it. All in the mind! This time I started with contacts, a plan and a focus event. Of which, more later. Because if I'm to manage to blog every day of June, I'm not squandering topics.
New York is warm if not hot and more than a little sticky. Store air conditioning is welcome. They make the electricity cost back! The temperature is at that magic point that is warm enough to have people relaxed and summery, but not so hot that they are irritable. Even waiting in the 52nd St subway station for a train that never came, the crowd of people sweated calmly, struck up conversations, passed on the message that the Green line would be closed. I even heard strangers offering alternate directions. Everywhere I go, I hear the language of courtesy "Please" "Thankyou" "Excuse me" The rude New Yorker may be endangered, if not extinct.
Last time I came to New York I hated it. All in the mind! This time I started with contacts, a plan and a focus event. Of which, more later. Because if I'm to manage to blog every day of June, I'm not squandering topics.
New York is warm if not hot and more than a little sticky. Store air conditioning is welcome. They make the electricity cost back! The temperature is at that magic point that is warm enough to have people relaxed and summery, but not so hot that they are irritable. Even waiting in the 52nd St subway station for a train that never came, the crowd of people sweated calmly, struck up conversations, passed on the message that the Green line would be closed. I even heard strangers offering alternate directions. Everywhere I go, I hear the language of courtesy "Please" "Thankyou" "Excuse me" The rude New Yorker may be endangered, if not extinct.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)