Crazy Day

Ever have those days that you know will be busy, but then new things come up and it is even crazier?? Well I had a half day like that yesterday. I say half day because the morning was typical but then the afternoon I was teaching piano and I had an audition. But I get ahead of myself.
So yesterday I am doing the normal stuff, no big. Andy wasn't at school he was at a conference for the AVID class he teaches and so wasn't going to be home right after school to watch the kids for lessons so Corinne was going to watch the kids while I taught her kids piano, which was very nice. Then almost right after that I was going to have to leave to head to the other side of Portland to try out for the Portland Mormon Choir.
Andy had just gotten home when I heard Jonathan start screaming bloody murder. I didn't pay much attention to it because with Andy home and Corinne, I figured it was under control. I finished up the lessons and went downstairs to get Christiana for her lesson and to talk to Corinne about the audition. Having never done anything remotely like this before I wanted to know what the heck I was getting into. I looked at Jonathan's finger which had a band-aid on it and heard what happened. Apparently, Jonathan wanted to get into the room the other kids were in and was pushing against the door to open it and the other kids were pushing to shut the door. Jonathan lost, and his little finger was smashed on the hinge side of the door when it clicked shut, not his fingernail....his WHOLE finger. Then of course the kids got the door shut and they weren't about to open it to get his finger out (not realizing of course that Jonathan's finger was in it.) When I got a chance to look at Jonathan's finger, it was all swollen and he wouldn't really move it or let anyone touch it.
So instead of teaching Christiana, we dropped the other three kids off at Corinne's house and took Jonathan to the doctor to see if he'd broken his finger. Sharon, who was also trying out, said she would pick me up at the doctors to head to the audition. I ended up leaving before we even got the X-Rays done. Gotta love the speed at the doctors office. Jonathan's finger ended up not being broken, but it is still a little swollen this morning and he is still careful with it. Hunter felt REALLY bad as he was the one that got the door shut.
The Portland Mormon Choir and Orchestra is that, a choir with an orchestra. They put on two concerts a year, one at Christmas and one in the spring time. My "dear" friend Corinne who is in the choir convinced me to try out.
So my audition, was interesting. Had I know what I was going to have to do, I don't think I would have done it, I just don't have that much confidence in my singing yet. I was told that I would have to sing a hymn and they would do scales or something like that to check my range. I figured I could do that. So there are two judges, Sharon had one and I ended up with the other. I think I got the harder one, of course. So first he checks my range. After going down the scale, he tells me I have a nice tenor range....is this a good thing or a bad thing?? Then he has me open the hymn book to a hymn that I have never heard before, gives me my starting note and tells me to sing the alto part without him playing. WHAT!!!!! This is so far outside my comfort level, I am singing in front of a professional and I have NEVER claimed to have perfect pitch. So within three or four notes, I know I'm off, but I plug through and finish the song and ended up several notes off from the ending note. So he played the first line and then tells me to sing it again. I do and did much better this time just a little off from the ending note, which I think for me is quite an achievement. Then he says he going to play a note and have me sing it. I'm thinking okay, no big he'll play a note and then I sing it. WRONG!!!! He played anywhere from three to five notes in a rhythm and I had to sing it. There were some I got on the first try, but there were also some that took several (as in five or six with him playing it again). He then had me sing a hymn of my choosing. I have to say, it is hard to sing the alto part to a hymn when there is no soprano, but it is even MORE DIFFICULT when there is no piano either. I had picked Count Your Blessings because I knew the alto part and because I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to practice (I ended up having none because of Jonathan.) Even Andy, who has been singing since High School, said he would have a hard time singing bass to a song without the melody line on, especially on songs like hymns where the melody line is ingrained in us. Anyway, the auditioner told me several times I had a nice voice, now the question is was he saying that because he liked it, or he was just trying to make me feel better about not making the choir.
So do I think I made it, No. But it was an interesting experience. I will find out if I did sometime this week and the first practice is on Tuesday and then every Tuesday after that until the concert in the middle of December.