Whew....I'm all ketched up. This week has been so busy. We got swamped at work last week, and we got caught up only to get swamped again in the weekend. So they redid the schedule again, and I'm scheduled every single day. So the only reason I have time to check in today is that DH was home with the stomach flu, so he was able to pick DS up by car, and DS had a half day anyway, so it saved me a LOT of time.
I am not sure if I mentioned it, but our choir director is quitting, so we're looking for a new one. Monday night, we had a trial run for someone...a kind of interview of sorts, but he ran the rehearsal and then we talked as a group about it afterwards....what we liked, what we didn't. If he gets the job, I don't see myself staying. He was nice enough, and obviously knows his stuff as far as technique goes, but he couldn't play the piano so the warm up was a capella, which wouldn't be bad, except that not everyone has a strong ear, so some people would go up only half a step instead of a whole step, so we were in different keys, or the person next to me was just a bit flat and I had to stop singing, because I just can't handle the dissonance. He says he likes doing long warmups....I hate that. And then when we were working on the chosen music (I won't give up, Jason Mraz) it's a real emotional piece, kind of a ballad, and the guy was playing polka-like chords as accompaniment, and a lot of the notes didn't even fit in the chords, so it sounded off. His whole thing was about interpreting the meaning of the music....feeling it and living in that emotion. How can I do that when it's about being all in and not giving up, and being willing to make an effort, and you're playing oompah pah chords underneath? It just didn't work for me. So we're an edgy, rock-band type group...we do ballads, but we try to do them in an edgy way. So the piece he chose to teach us was.....Da doo ran ran. Really? THAT'S your idea of the type of music we do? And so he's working with us on this song, and he's telling everyone to "Pronounce it like an American" because it sounds too Dutch....but when he demonstrated what he wanted, he did a really annoying nasally sound and weird accent that was NOTHING like an American. Of course, he didn't know I'm American, so he probably has no clue he was so off the mark, but when he said that, of course everyone looked at me, and my face must have been very telling because one woman was trying really hard not to laugh, another burst out into laughter, and a few others looked like they were waiting for me to tell him off. I was a good girl and kept my mouth shut, but his idea of "American" is a bit offensive to me, and that together with the lack of piano chops did not make him the ideal candidate in my view. I know I wasn't the only one. There were 2 other "no" votes, and only 1 "yes" vote....the others were hesitant and want a 2nd rehearsal to see how he would handle an actual rock song. I really really hope there are a few other applicants, because I don't want to quit this choir, but that was the least fun rehearsal I've had since high school when I had an incompetent teacher. Usually I come away from a rehearsal energized and de-stressed....Monday I was totally drained and grouchy. There's no use paying to belong to a club where that's what I come away with weekly. So if he is the only applicant we get, I think I'll be free on Monday nights again.
So that's pretty much my week so far.
