Category: Bells (Page 6 of 7)

Today was a long day. I got up at 5:30 (I had actually been woken up around 5, when John climbed into bed with me, but he thankfully went back to sleep. But since he was sleeping in my bed, I had to get dressed in the dark, and be very very quiet or risk waking him up again, and then not being able to get out of the house.) and left the house at 6:15 so I could meet my carpool at 6:30.
We got up to the conference center by 7, changed and were ready to rehearse at 7:30. We went through our song a few times, rehearsed with the choir, then waited. We did the run through, then the actual broadcast. You probably didn’t see it, but if you did, you would have seen a glimpse of me and heard us ring for one song.

Then we did the whole thing in reverse. Walk over to the tabernacle, change, go back to the parking lot, drive home. I got home around 11:15, and didn’t go to church. Instead I loaded some dishes, got some chicken out of the freezer, got some dinner cooking in the crock pot and watched a little tv. I made lunch for the family and had a 20 minute nap. Then the kids came home and smothered me with luvs and attention for an hour, when I had to leave again at 3:15. Again. Meet the carpool at 3:30, etc. etc. Only this time I was driving. At 4:30 we were dressed and ready. This time we rehearsed a different song for the fireside tonight. We ran though it a couple of times, then waited for the program to start so we could ring our one song. Luckily, someone had brought a new Cranium card game and we had fun playing that while we waited back stage. At 6:00, we were up in the loft, ready for our song. It was the first song of the program, so we were able to play that song, come back down, put away the bells and leave. I got home at around 7:15. So, I was gone for 9 hours today and performed two songs.

Not that I’m complaining or anything, I’m just tired.

Happy New Year.

Tomorrow we will discuss our resolutions and goals and what fun we’re going to have in the year 2007. Tonight, I’m going to try to get some kids to bed and then I’m hitting the hay myself. I will not be staying up until Midnight if I can help it, because I’m tired.

Last night’s concert was fantastic. We were all so nervous to perform in the huge conference center, knowing that thousands of people could be there, but we had rehearsed and gone over everything so many times, so it was time to “enjoy the moment”. It was quite an experience. We were told afterward that there were about 12 thousand people in the audience–wow. Unlike last year’s Christmas concert, where there was an unfortunate Sleighride incident, we pulled it off and there were no song slaughterings. Of course we made some mistakes–there will always be mistakes–but none so horrible that the song suffered. I had a couple of spots where I got my bells all switched and in the wrong spots and couldn’t play for a couple of measures while I got myself reorganized. But I did not panic. I’m sure I wasn’t smiling the whole time, but I tried to “have a pleasant look on my face” instead of looking all stressed and ready to bolt at any moment.

My family enjoyed it, and all wanted to tell me what their favorite songs were. Megan last night in her prayer said, “And thank you that mom and her team could play such lovely music…” I didn’t know I had a “team”, but it’s a nice thought.

Now I’m done with bells until after Christmas. Since we’re going to Cancun and I would miss a couple of performances with the Tab Choir, I had a sub learn my part for all those songs. So, the next week for me will be a lot easier. I’ll go and watch the concert instead of rehearsing for two nights and performing for 3 more. It’s bittersweet, because I want to be ringing with them, but I’ll be going to Cancun!

Now that the concert is over I can finish the Christmas shopping (i’m seriously pretty much done–I just have to help the kids find things to give to each other and mom and dad), wrap everything, get the neighbor gifts done, go to a few parties, pick out and wrap the teacher gifts, help the kids with their programs and shows, organize the schedule for the babysitters, and clean my house and pack. That’s do-able, right? And I’ll start right after I take a shower.

Thanks to everyone who watched Music and the Spoken Word and saw me. Honestly, how could you not see me. I was on camera a lot! Which was kind of a surprise. After we had finished the third song, I sat down and I thought, “I don’t think I smiled that whole time, I was so nervous.” I made a mistake in the first song, so that threw my confidence off, and then rest of the time, instead of enjoying the moment, I was just hoping to hurry and get it over with before I made another mistake. So, although I wasn’t hugely smiling, I at least wasn’t scowling, and I’m relieved.

I’ve had several people from church comment on how they saw me and how great the program was, which is always nice to hear. The best comment was this morning as I was going to a new aerobics class we’re starting up at the church. I walk in, and Ella, the little 3 year old daughter of one of my friends in the ward said to me, “You were on the movie at our house!” Wow! I was floored by her recognition and great memory.

If you’ve not been to an event in the conference center yet, you simply need to go. It’s so amazing! The music sound so incredible when you are actually there, and can see the grandeur that is the choir. I’m still in awe that they let me and and our little group perform with them. We are thrilled to be there, and nervous as heck. I mean, it’s the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, for heaven’s sake!

If you didn’t get to see it and still want to,
there is a replay tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:30 am on BYUTV. If you don’t get BYUTV, or if you are stuck at work, you can watch on their live internet stream: www.byutv.org/streaming/, at the same time.

Wow! I’m sorry I haven’t written anything, really I am. Did you miss me? (heads nodding up and down). Well, I missed you, too.

I was extremely busy this weekend and just didn’t have the time or energy to put down all that I was thinking, but I’ll try to let you know now.

Wednesday through Saturday I’ve been at the Conference Center every night, with rehearsals, dress rehearsals and concerts. I added it up, and with driving time, I spent almost 25 hours doing the bell thing this week. So, yes, I’m pretty tired.

But aside from absolutely tiring, it was wonderful and exilerating. Really! To be playing songs we love, with people who we love, is really amazing. Some of the songs were the same ones we did for our first concert in September of last year, and we’ve improved 100%. I wish I could say we played every song perfectly each time, but I can’t. We had a little disaster of sorts when a song completely fell apart on Saturday night–what in the world?– but somehow we picked it back up and carried on. I guess we needed something to laugh about.

Thursday night was a dress rehearsal for friends and families, and Ryan is awesome–he brought all 5 kids! When it was over and my bell friends saw Ryan sitting there with all the yahoos on his lap or around him, they all said, “Wow! Your kids were so good!” I guess we didn’t notice Ryan taking John outside for a time-out, nor did we know that John had somehow cut his head climbing under a chair (Ryan’s not sure how it happened, since John didn’t cry, but thinks it was from crawling under a chair–what?) and had a big bloody gash on his head when I went and saw them after the concert. But I thought the kids did great, and they lasted through the whole thing. Ryan, brave soul that he is, said, “Please don’t ask me to bring all the kids to one of these things ever again.” I won’t.

They were taping this one for BYU to use, so Saturday afternoon we did some more taping in the afternoon to clean up any areas where there were mistakes, and to get close ups, I guess. Imagine spending two hours on your feet playing bells, wearing black double sleeved dresses that do NOT breathe (and tuxes for the men) with the lights glaring on you while you play bells. And not just play, but play perfectly, if you don’t mind. And we’ll have these big cameras on big booms swooping around to capture your every move. Don’t look at that camera, you idiot! Look at the director! Oh, and smile like you are having the time of your life. What? You’ve got sweat dripping down your back? Well, you’d better smile about it. It was absolutely exhausting! My back was killing me, my dress was smelling like sweat (oh how pleasant!), my feet were killing me, and yes, I was smiling. Or I thought I was smiling. It probably looked like some contorted sneer by the time it was over, but I really tried to smile. I can hope that they got enough good tape that they can edit it to look like we played each song perfectly. In talking to the director after it was over, I asked him to please do his best to make us look and sound good (and 10 pounds skinnier, please.)

Finally, when he could tell that we were “fatigued”, we took a break to “powder” and get a drink, then came back for another half hour of taping. Thankfully they let us go, then. We got to relax, have dinner, let our hair down and have a little bit of relaxing time before our last concert. We’ve got two people leaving us to go on to bigger and better things (one’s joining the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and one’s getting married and moving away to go to school), so we had a cake and cards for them. We will miss them.

All in all I am pleased with our performances. Yes, there were mistakes, yes there were rough spots, but I did my best. I made it through the really scary and hard songs without falling apart, and hopefully I did it with a smile on my face.

For the past 6 days I’ve been heavily involved with the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concerts, and I just have to say “WOW!” It was an awesome experience! You can’t imagine the countless hours of preparation that goes into one of those concerts, from the elaborate stage decorations, to the dancers, soloists (Renee Fleming was absolutely Amazing!) and guest artists (Claire Bloom was also Incredible), all the songs the choir learns, some at the last minute because they are still being written, and all the people behind the scenes. There must be at least 100 support people behind the scenes driving carts around, talking into their walkie-talkies, stage managers telling you when to go on, camera and sound men, make-up artists, etc.

And the whole thing was absolutely astounding how wonderfully it came together. I’m extremly grateful that I could be involved in that experience. Friday night when I looked out I saw President Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson sitting in the front row–if that doesn’t make you want to do your best, I don’t know what does. And Sunday morning after the broadcast and mini concert, President Hinckley and President Faust came up to the stage and thanked the guest artists for coming (they waive their fees and donate their time) and invited them back anytime. It was Craig Jessop’s birthday, so he led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to him, and wished us all a Merry Christmas. At the end, he said, “Now we’ll sing ‘God be with you till we meet again’ and hope that it happens,” and waved as he left the stage. ‘

When we left the stage and went to go put our bells away, there was a bunch of security because President Hinckley was just getting into a cart. President Faust was 5 feet from me, and said “Good job” right to me. Wow! It’s not every day, or, well, ever, that I’m standing by the prophet. It was a real thrill.

I’m especially thankful for Ryan. He (and a couple of babysitters) watched the kids for so many hours this week so I could be at rehearsal, and all those concerts. He really is wonderful! He didn’t even get to see the concert because we had a sick child over the weekend, and didn’t feel comfortable leaving him with a babysitter. So, even though it was a very tough, tiring, long week, it was extremely rewarding and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it.

Ok, we got about 15 inches of snow on Tuesday, and it was very messy. The roads to Salt Lake were not that great at 4:30 pm, either, and it took me 2 hours to get to the conference center that night. Ugh!

Tonight is our first concert with the Tab Choir. I’m in 4 numbers. Cool, except that they are all supposed to be memorized. Have you ever tried memorizing Bell music? 32 measures until we come in, then E-D-E-rest E-D-E rest 8 measures, then D5 and D6 together, etc. Each song we are holding different bells, so we have to put them all back and get new ones every time, we come in from different places each time, and to top it off we’re supposed to be smiling! The past two nights have been 4-5 hour rehearsals, and we’re all pretty exhausted.

I’ve got a cold and I’m popping euchenachia, zinc and vitamin C, along with Cold-eez and whatever else I think might help. So, needless to say, I’m a little bit nervous about tonight. I’m going off to study the new song that was just transposed yesterday because apparantly the soloist wanted it in a higher key.

Send good thoughts my way–please!