I carpool over with a couple of others to save on gas and enjoy the company. When we arrived tonight, I helped get several boxes and bags out of the back of my friend's vehicle. It was dark and rather, umm, cluttered, and when I pulled one of the bags, a glass globe for a light rolled out and smashed on the parking lot.... GREAT.... My friend assured me that she had needed the thing broken anyway, that she was doing some kind of art work with broken glass... Nevertheless, on the parking lot directly behind her car was I am almost certain, not the place she had intended the globe be broken!
So, after we took everything inside, I headed back out and in the light of the streetlamp I painstakingly collected every shard of glass I could find from that broken globe. Into the plastic bag they all went, and then the bag was placed carefully... ummm... amongst all the other "things" in the back of her car. I was freezing by the time I was finished, and I headed inside to warm up.
The last three nights I have been drafted into helping with bits and pieces of set construction and tonight was no different. Two nights ago, as I hammered in the staples that had not quite made it all the way in, one of the set guys walked by and said, "I just love a wild woman with a hammer!" I had to laugh and ask him in what world I was EVER considered "wild." Last night, I worked the staple gun, and again, I got the comment about wielding a staple gun, blah, blah, blah... tonight's task was to help one of the other guys get the vinyl lettering on the big wooden sign.... an interesting task, and one I had not done before. But I was freezing and any kind of work would do -- I just wanted to warm up.
As John and I worked on the letter transfers, the "nuns" decided it was time for their warm-up... of course they are all plenty warm, wearing those habits and all, but they wanted to warm up their voices. So, they did the typical scales, arpeggios, and warm-ups that are standard to any vocalist. And then they returned backstage to rest and wait for the stage manager to tell them it was time to start.
We had to wait a while for the band members to arrive, so we kept working on the set, right up until the last minute. The nuns, I believe, were getting a little bored, and one of them started singing a song I had not heard or thought of in years. When she started, I joined right in. It was one my father had on one of the Brother's Four albums that were a staple during my growing up years. It is a four part round.
"1st VOICE:
The violins play the song
Everyone has got to sing along
The violins play the song
Everyone has got to sing along
2nd VOICE:
The clarinet, the clarinet
He doesn't know it, but he'll learn it yet
The clarinet, the clarinet
He doesn't know it, but he'll learn it yet
3rd VOICE:
The drums are never sharp, the drums are never flat
They just go rat-tat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat
The drums are never sharp, the drums are never flat
They just go rat-tat-a-tat-tat-tat
4th VOICE:
The horn, the horn
Just sneers with scorn
The horn, the horn
Just sneers with scorn
1st VOICE:
The violins play the song
Everyone has got to sing along
2nd VOICE:
The clarinet, the clarinet
He doesn't know it, but he'll learn it yet
3rd VOICE:
The drums are never sharp, the drums are never flat
They just go rat-tat-a-tat-tat-tat
4th VOICE:
The horn, the horn
Just sneers with scorn."
It was a lot of fun. And as we wrapped up the set construction, and the band took their places, the nuns took theirs in accordance with the stage manager's instructions, and I prepared for my production job, stage right, I realized I had really warmed up... physically, vocally, emotionally. It was a nice night!
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