I'm now doing two nights a week for the Australian Youth Choir. One of these involves trekking to the backwoods of the south-eastern suburbs. I'm becoming more familiar with the outer reaches of our freeway system than I would have thought likely at the beginning of the year.
Every AYC rehearsal has three parts -- one hour with the probationers, one hour with the training/performing choristers, and the final half hour with the performing group. It can be a very intense two and a half hours.
Because they're the first off the rank for the evening, I usually make a bit of time in the five minutes before the start of the rehearsal to ask the probationers what they've done this week, or if they've done something exciting. There's the usual gamut of answers ranging from school excursions, trips to the zoo or other amusement parks, reading a good book and so on. It gives you a good picture of what your choristers enjoy beyond the rehearsal room, and helps them to feel that you take an interest in them beyond singing. In a new group -- such as last night, which was my second week with the new rehearsal venue -- it also helps to break the ice.
Anyway, last night I was in the middle of this pre-rehearsal conversation when one of the choristers put her hand up. The answer to the question "have you done something exciting this week?" was as follows:
"I haven't done anything exciting at home or at school since last week, but I'm really excited that I've come here tonight."
What could I say, apart from "That's the best thing I've heard all week! Give this young lady a hearty round of applause!"
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