Hobbies

Life is not just about writing. Nor is it just about cleaning, shopping, preparing food and physiotherapy appointments.

I, for example, sing.

I used to write a lot of songs myself: Filk / singer-songwriter stuff / fantasy ballads. This then increasingly gave way to writing books, as if my muse were too overworked to deal with both  songs and novels at the same time. Perhaps there has also been a departmental change: Euterpe (music) has ceded me to Kalliope (epic poetry). They may have shuffled me back and forth for a while. Or they’re taking turns and I just haven’t understood their schedule yet.

At least I have to start practising again now, because I’m reading at the Festival Mediaval in Selb from 6 to 8 September 2024, and I’ve been asked to sing something to accompany the reading. I don’t know why I said yes. Apart from practising, it also means havin to  lug the heavy guitar around the festival site for ages. Not my cup of mead.

But at the moment I have another concert is coming up. I sing in a choir and we’re performing Handel’s Messiah next weekend, parts 1 and 2. I love singing in choirs, I’ve been singing  in choirs ever since I was a child. Once I even sang in the choir at an opera performance of Purcell’s “Dido and Anaeas“.

I can’t wait to see how it turns out. A friend of mine is coming all the way from Hamburg to sing along. As he’s probably going to be the best of our tenors, I’m all the more looking forward to his visit.

Yesterday we rehearsed in the church. The sound was tremendous.

Now everything just has to work out. However, the city has blocked access to the second concert venue with a huge building site. I refuse to take that as an omen.