Tonight is our last night of recording Handel's Messiah. This has been a wonderful experience and a very long and tiring experience. Sustaining energy and excitement over the long haul has been challenging. Here we are at the end of our portion of the work and I for one am feeling the exhaustion. One of the unexpected tolls has been the sleepless nights filled with melismas playing over and over in my brain. As much as I love the music of Messiah, I simply cannot get the sleep I need with passages of music punctuating my dreams. I am not even sure I get into the dream state. The intricate 16th note runs have wormed their way into my psyche and keep making me practice all through the night! Instead of waking up refreshed, I tumble out of bed exhausted from working through the night!
Our conductor has had quite the job of trying to keep us enthused throughout these last few sessions. We know he is exhausted, and still he has the added burden of trying to keep us on task and up to speed. And, even after we are done with our portion, he still has all of the editing left to do! Whew! He said something to us the other night that really struck hard. He hoped we could keep from SOCIAL LOAFING or relying on the other people in choir to provide the energy asked for by the conductor. We simply cannot ride on other people's energy. We must get in there and continue to give our 100%. Wish us success!
I have been thinking about the idea of SOCIAL LOAFING. How many times have I been guilty of that in other areas of my life? How many times have I relaxed (loafed) and allowed, or rather assumed that other people would provide the energy to move some activity along? How many times has my attitude of "go ahead and impress me" ruled the day? And how many times have I remained unimpressed and not brought any enthusiasm to the event when my energy could have made a positive difference?
I have done my share of conducting and directing. I know how hard it is to pull a performance out of my performers. I understand how wonderful it can be to feed off the group's collective energy and ride the crest of their "high" wave. Most of that energy comes from the simple decision to make it happen. So tonight, I will go into the recording session with that decision made. No SOCIAL LOAFING for me. Tonight I bring my attitude and energy positively charged -- 100%.
Then maybe, after tonight, I will be able to get some sleep!
I have been thinking about the idea of SOCIAL LOAFING. How many times have I been guilty of that in other areas of my life? How many times have I relaxed (loafed) and allowed, or rather assumed that other people would provide the energy to move some activity along? How many times has my attitude of "go ahead and impress me" ruled the day? And how many times have I remained unimpressed and not brought any enthusiasm to the event when my energy could have made a positive difference?
I have done my share of conducting and directing. I know how hard it is to pull a performance out of my performers. I understand how wonderful it can be to feed off the group's collective energy and ride the crest of their "high" wave. Most of that energy comes from the simple decision to make it happen. So tonight, I will go into the recording session with that decision made. No SOCIAL LOAFING for me. Tonight I bring my attitude and energy positively charged -- 100%.
Then maybe, after tonight, I will be able to get some sleep!
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