Japan
Well, tomorrow I’m off to Japan! The choir that I sing in, Canticum auditioned and was accepted to sing at the World Choral Symposium in Japan. This is a gathering of choris from around the world, including both concerts and workshops. I’m not so excited about the workshops (most don’t really interest me) but the concerts should be great! It’s pretty cool to be going to sing for about 2000 people…! We’re then going on a little tour of some of the nearby towns (singing at places as we go!) and then finally singing at the Australian pavillion of World EXPO. So that should be great fun! Finally, my partner and I are going to take a few days off and explore some of the nearby mountain villages, including one that has been preserved in its “Edo period” look, with no cars, powerlines or aerials allowed to mar the illusion! Supposed to be a lovely place to visit, even beyond that.
I’ve been singing for ages, and although my favourite style is jazz and barbershop quartets, I do enjoy classical music too. As part of our tour we’re singing a wide variety of music, including a fabulous piece mundanely titled “Three Australian Bush Songs” by Ian Grandage. It has three parts called Dawn, Birdsong Chorus and Sunset, and they all brilliantly capture the Australian outback! I’m normally very cynical of Australian bush songs (let alone the hideous Austrlian Christmas carols…with the possibly exception of Aussie Jingle Bells which is so accurate it’s actually good!) But this piece really captures the sound of bird calls in the morning (done by choir members!), cicadas and the molten sunset…It’s great fun to sing to!
So, the upshot of this is that my posting may be a little sporadic over the next two weeks. I’ve been writing a few posts in advance about various things I’ve found interesting which I’ll post during my time away in case I can’t do anything else, and hopefully I’ll still find time to keep up to date on things and post about what I read as well.
Oh, and just in case you’re interested in my career as a Barbershop performer, I found the old webpage of my barbershop “The BS“, which includes a terrible recording of us singing at Government House in Queensland. We couldn’t hear each other at all because of the way the microphones were set up (we got all this distorted reflected noise which even overpowered hearing the person beside you…) but it at least gives you an idea. “When I’m 64″ was our signature piece 
Anyway, you can’t see our facial expressions and actions which was always half the fun! Barbershop has got to be my favourite vocal style - I really like jazz and male a cappella too. But I like classical music as well (and hence Canticum choir)!