7-Bar Audition

"Auditions for the small chorus will be held at Nagai-Sensei's house." That's what I could make out from the announcement in Japanese passed out at rehearsal Wednesday evening. Apparently, with the concert only about 2 weeks away, the maestro from Tokyo decided that he wants the small chorus (of women) in one part of "Carmina Burana" to be even smaller. [See previous entry entitled "A Peasant Concert."] I wanted to be part of the small chorus so decided to go audition, but the only time I could go was Friday evening after a full day of teaching (groan).

When I got there, 3 other Sopranos were already practicing. Then Nagai-Sensei, our conductor, had us audition one at a time in a separate room. (His wife is a piano teacher, so her studio has 2 baby grands, and he has another in his music room.) I was the last one to audition. The other 3 Sopranos seemed to audition for a relatively long time (more than 5 minutes) with both the CD and the piano. In fact, I heard them singing the whole piece ("Floret Silva").

When it came my turn, he had me sing only the parts where there would be a smaller chorus - a total of 7 bars in 2 places. That was it. I sensed that my "audition" was only a formality. I think it means that I'll be in the small chorus for sure, but I won't find out until he announces it. Since there are more auditions Saturday and Sunday, I don't know when I'll find out.

While the others were auditioning, I started to feel a bit nervous, but I did some deep breathing and somehow felt totally confident when I was actually auditioning. How I wish I had had the same confidence when I first started singing in church choirs and in the Madrigal singers in college!

[Postscript: I got into the small chorus.]