Assisted Living Facility Concert
Dec. 12th, 2011 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillSo it was... challenging.
The Library was really much quieter. At today's concert I was standing about ten feet from a desk where periodically the phone would ring, and someone would answer it and talk to whoever was on the line at the time. Or a call button would beep. Sometimes with a rhythm. That had nothing to do with whatever I happened to be singing at the time.
Many of the audience had a hard time hearing, and they wanted me to use a microphone. However they didn't have an actual microphone *stand*; they had the idea I was going to hold it in my hand. Fine for the _a capella_ songs. They did have a podium the mic could be fitted into, but it couldn't pick me up from very far away so I had to crowd right up to the podium to use it. Which meant instead of having my music in front of me, I had to have it by my right elbow. I was told I should start at 3:00pm but the bingo didn't finish until 3:15. And at a few minutes past 4:00pm a bunch of kids from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (apparently non-Christian Athletes are chopped liver, and everybody knows chopped liver can't sing) showed up to sing Christmas carols.
And every so often, when the telephone went off again, or I was trying my delicate 3 against 2 rhythm balancing act with a call button beeping in my left ear, it occurred to me to be very glad I spent so much time this year practicing. Because while I didn't hold it together perfectly--no performance goes perfectly--I still did a creditable job keeping everything going, and climbing back on the harmony lines when I fell off and in general turning in a performance rather than a run-through. And there's no way I could have done that if I didn't have all that practice under my belt.
The reception was mixed. Everyone was polite, but some people plainly couldn't hear, and at least one person fell asleep in her chair--not that I begrudge her: she looked very tired. On the other hand there is often someone who just lights up when you play and there was one person like that in this audience who seemed to enjoy the set very much. She said one of my songs reminded her of the music Spock plays in one of the Star Trek episodes, and asked me if I was a Trek fan. I told her I had enjoyed the original series very much and followed several of the spin-offs, but I did not study it closely enough to know that particular music, but perhaps I was using a similar style.
I cut the set short by one song, since I was running out of voice and there were people waiting, packed up in record time and cleared out as the FCA were launching into "Joy To The World." May they bring joy to the residents, who strike me as both needing and deserving a bit more joy in their lives.
The Library was really much quieter. At today's concert I was standing about ten feet from a desk where periodically the phone would ring, and someone would answer it and talk to whoever was on the line at the time. Or a call button would beep. Sometimes with a rhythm. That had nothing to do with whatever I happened to be singing at the time.
Many of the audience had a hard time hearing, and they wanted me to use a microphone. However they didn't have an actual microphone *stand*; they had the idea I was going to hold it in my hand. Fine for the _a capella_ songs. They did have a podium the mic could be fitted into, but it couldn't pick me up from very far away so I had to crowd right up to the podium to use it. Which meant instead of having my music in front of me, I had to have it by my right elbow. I was told I should start at 3:00pm but the bingo didn't finish until 3:15. And at a few minutes past 4:00pm a bunch of kids from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (apparently non-Christian Athletes are chopped liver, and everybody knows chopped liver can't sing) showed up to sing Christmas carols.
And every so often, when the telephone went off again, or I was trying my delicate 3 against 2 rhythm balancing act with a call button beeping in my left ear, it occurred to me to be very glad I spent so much time this year practicing. Because while I didn't hold it together perfectly--no performance goes perfectly--I still did a creditable job keeping everything going, and climbing back on the harmony lines when I fell off and in general turning in a performance rather than a run-through. And there's no way I could have done that if I didn't have all that practice under my belt.
The reception was mixed. Everyone was polite, but some people plainly couldn't hear, and at least one person fell asleep in her chair--not that I begrudge her: she looked very tired. On the other hand there is often someone who just lights up when you play and there was one person like that in this audience who seemed to enjoy the set very much. She said one of my songs reminded her of the music Spock plays in one of the Star Trek episodes, and asked me if I was a Trek fan. I told her I had enjoyed the original series very much and followed several of the spin-offs, but I did not study it closely enough to know that particular music, but perhaps I was using a similar style.
I cut the set short by one song, since I was running out of voice and there were people waiting, packed up in record time and cleared out as the FCA were launching into "Joy To The World." May they bring joy to the residents, who strike me as both needing and deserving a bit more joy in their lives.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 02:50 am (UTC)