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Some distractions I can work right through. Others…I can’t. Thanksgiving is one of those others. It’s the holiday on which I indulge my love for cooking and entertaining occasionally. Occasionally, because I do a huge lump of work for Thanksgiving, and I’m not going to put out that much effort every week or so, or I couldn’t write books. Holiday music is another. Again this year our choir is singing Messiah with the Austin Symphony. And this year, the first rehearsal was today, Saturday, and the next is Monday…yes, this Monday, the Monday before Thanksgiving. EEEEEPPP!!!I’ve been doing Thanksgiving dinners with friends for over forty years now. In an uncluttered year (book deadline was August, say, and I wasn’t singing in this chorus), I have the system all laid out. The prep starts several weeks out, leisurely adding elements one at a time. No stress. The final days, starting on Saturday, each have their prep tasks, and I arrive at dawn on T-day (about when the turkey(s) start cooking) rested and sane.
Two long Messiah rehearsals in that critical period are…pushing my limits. Each is 2-3 hours of rehearsal–tiring, because very, very intense. And 2-3 hours of driving from here to the rehearsal site, through increasingly fraught traffic. That’s a minimum of 5 hours out of my prep time for each rehearsal, or 10 hours altogether. Plus the hours I had to spend transferring director’s marks from a .pdf file into the score–and will have to do again, because one of my Messiah scores–the new one I bought last year, and had bound in black, and then didn’t get to sing from–has vanished into the end-of-book chaos in the house. It should have been with the older Messiah score, the one with the front black binding sheet now tearing away from the spiral binding.
And I need those hours…not just for prep, but for the book, which–because I’m distracted–is now dead in the water, and leaking at every seam. The chain-sawing revealed its flaws, and I tried all week to get one particular scene written…and couldn’t. The phone would ring, someone would ask a question about what to bring, or would I send money to this candidate; someone in the family would ask me things, like what else might be on the grocery list for the next trip, or if I’d decided whether the turkeys should defrost in this fridge or the other one…and another email would come from the director about the music…or from an editor…or from someone who had to be answered.
Tomorrow we sing second service only, a particularly tricky anthem. Then Monday the next long rehearsal. There’s a lot of prep work to be done Monday before I drive to the city. Tuesday and Wednesday will be flat-out dinner prep, from kitchen work to preparing the room in which the dinner will be given and making sure that the rest of the houses are decent enough for company as far as company is allowed. (No, they won’t be totally clean and tidy. That’s asking WAY too much.)
It will all come together, and the people I invite are tolerant (or…they don’t come back. ) But in the meantime…I’m distracted.
(Oh…the “at table” count was up to 20, dropped to 18, and is now up to 19-and-maybe-20. That requires two long tables, each made of two shorter tables put end to end. One of the long tables is made of two dining tables of different height and width, just to be interesting. With that many, it’s easier to do two smaller turkeys than one huge one. )
E.
Comment by Annabel (Mrs Redboots) — November 20, 2011 @ 7:00 am
No Thanksgiving here, of course – it’s just a normal week, and we make that sort of fuss about Christmas.
But my daughter sang in Messiah last night, and although I didn’t go, both she and her father tell me it was absolutely fabulous – I’m sure yours will be, too.
Comment by elizabeth — November 20, 2011 @ 1:09 pm
Some singers, I understand, become bored with Messiah. I don’t see how. That may be because our director changes articulations every time, bringing out different nuances of the music. I have heard choirs “hammer” it and I suppose, if you sing it the same way year after year, it could be tedious–but I love the music, so it’s not.
Comment by Daniel Glover — November 20, 2011 @ 3:09 pm
Having had the good fortune to hear (I have never got in to the whole auditioning thing with choirs-if it requires auditions it’s not for me) my college choir sing the whole thing with original Handel era orchestration and instrumentation–right down to an authentic period organ (much different from today’s big pipe or electronic ones). So, yes, that’s one piece of music that can have many, many interpretations. Enjoy. We,your readers will wait–hope your editor is so kind.
Comment by John S — November 20, 2011 @ 8:18 pm
Extreme and occasional exceptions aside? A cellist generally isn’t very fond of Pachalbel’s Canon in D, for instance. I don’t think music of a certain quality ever goes stagnant-the conductor or the ensemble do. Especially if you can jump between parts, year by year-play first violin one year, second the subsequent year. Granted, not every instrument or voice has that option.
Comment by Jenn — November 21, 2011 @ 8:31 am
I can’t remember if you have answered this else where. Are you alto or soprano?
When I was young I first heard the Messiah and could not figure out why Handel wrote We Like Sheep. What did it matter if people liked sheep or not? It is one of my fonder memories of childhood classical music mistakes.
Don’t worry about your book. I would rather wait a little and have a great book the a good book on time. Chainsawing a book is like chainsawing an ice sculpture.
So what is on the menu at the Moon household for Thanksgiving? (Thank you for not calling it turkey day)
Comment by elizabeth — November 21, 2011 @ 9:00 am
Replying between onions (have to let the eyes recover before I can see to dice the next one…) Apparently I’m a mezzo (according to director & voice coach) but I’ve sung alto since college, mistakenly thinking my high notes were all bad. I’m an alto in this choir, but working on mezzo pieces for my voice lessons.
I must worry about the book. The deadline is contractual, and there’s a penalty for late delivery in this contract…can’t afford that.
Menu:
On the table for nibbling ahead or between or after: cheese and crackers, carrot sticks, celery sticks, olives (stuffed green, and ripe), pickles, edible decorations (grapes, apples, oranges, bananas.)
The main event: turkey (s), ham (glazed with spiced pears I made yesterday), dressing/stuffing (bread, cornbread, celery, onion, parsley, herbs, butter, water), giblet gravy, cranberry sauce (with and w/o nuts), sweet potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, spinach/mushroom casserole, green salad (tomatoes on side), rolls (purchased), various jellies & jams for rolls. Some of the dressing/stuffing is in the turkeys, some is cooked separately for the vegetarians.
Dessert: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, brownie pie, apple-gingerbread upside-down cake, and either an apple pie or apple pandowdy (if I have time to make that last dessert.) Whipped cream (the real stuff) to top desserts. This is for 19-20 people, most of whom will take some home with them as well.
Contributors The cranberry sauce & pecan pies & green salad are contributed by our oldest partners in Thanksgiving; one couple is bringing the green bean casserole, one is bringing the cheese plate & crackers, one is bringing the rolls. I don’t know if the couple who brought the big spice/nut cake last year are going to bring anything this year.
Now–back to onion dicing, then celery dicing (these go into plastic bags in the fridge to go in the dressing until it’s assembled.) Gotta run, since my eyes quit running. Big yellow onions give better flavor to dressing (my opinion) but they do attack the eyeballs!
Comment by Jonathan Schor — November 21, 2011 @ 9:14 am
Penalty for late delivery. While I understand the publishers write or die viewpoint, I also appreciate that it is really hard work. We are all pulling for you.
Have a nice Turkey day.
Comment by elizabeth — November 21, 2011 @ 9:25 am
Big yellow onions all diced. Smaller, less potent white onions will follow, but in the meantime–it’s celery time. Then parsley time. Then “counting apples to be sure I have enough” time. I don’t cut the celery and carrot sticks until tomorrow or Wednesday, as they don’t stay crisp in sacks as well as the diced stuff does (and I don’t know why.)
Oddly enough, sufficient onion vapor to make your eyes burn a lot will actually help open sinuses. Kind of like hot pepper vapor.
Messiah rehearsal tonight (SO glad I’ve sung all the relevant choruses and only need to check a few bits on the piano) at which the altos are going to be made to do trills.
Comment by Jenn — November 21, 2011 @ 11:41 am
Sounds good. If Texas weren’t so far away I may be tempted to crash your dinner 🙂
Onions are bad but I must say be thankful it’s not horseradish. My eyes nearly swelled shut the last time I processed it.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Does your Church do the traditional Lessons and Carols in Dec?
Comment by elizabeth — November 21, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
I once made a chili pequin salsa, starting with two cups of chili pequins in a blender. Took off the blender top to see how they were doing. Eyes, nose, throat, airway, lungs.
The early service Christmas Eve is Lessons & Carols. The late service may or may not be, depending on which church.
Comment by Richard — November 21, 2011 @ 12:23 pm
Jenn (re. #5),
my childhood hymn misunderstandings lasted until the last few years. For example
“There is a green hill far away
Without a city wall”
City hills can have city walls, Stupid, but green hills don’t.
“Saviour if of Zion’s city”
“If”? Of course the Saviour is of Zion’s city, no possible doubt about it.
“I vow to thee my country”
Vowing to one’s country: very patriotic.
Comment by Jonathan Schor — November 21, 2011 @ 4:46 pm
Of course the best way to dice onions is to have someone else, like the husband, do it.
Comment by Genko — November 21, 2011 @ 7:28 pm
I’m a soprano, but sang alto for years because I could read music and hold my part. I still learn all the parts to choral music (not that I do that any more, but it could happen again), just to keep me entertained. I like to hear how all the parts fit together. Finally took actual voice lessons and discovered that I’m really a soprano and my voice likes those high notes really well.
I’ve discovered a trick to dicing onions — have a glass of water and then take sips, but hold the water in your mouth. Holding the edge of the glass against the lips seems to help too. I use this trick for stopping sneezing attacks, and someone suggested it for onions, and it really does seem to work.
I agree with the sentiment that it’s difficult to be bored with the Messiah. Actually any beautiful piece, including the Pachalbel. Being *tired* of it could be another matter, like Christmas carols repeating ad infinitum over the radio. I still *like* Carol of the Bells, and would happily sing it tomorrow, but I am a bit tired of hearing it. It’s also true that I like pieces that I sing better than ones I hear, at least most of the time.
As for distractions, I know that sometimes you have managed to use a time like this to focus on something else, and things are clearer when you are able to return to Book. I hope that’s true this time as well. It’s a crazy time of year, no question.
Comment by Moira — November 21, 2011 @ 9:09 pm
I always say it ain’t cooking until your eyes are watering from the onions. And roger that on the sinuses!
Boy, Handel is a little rough on mezzos who take the alto line. Bottom g, anyone? (I think he managed to take it down to an f in one of the anthems, if I remember rightly.) I’m more of a mezzo contralto meself, and in school (since there was always a permanent shortage of fellas, especially for the tenor part – they all wanted to be “manly” basses) I actually sang tenor. Titter ye not, section rehearsals were a blast! I, too, don’t see how anyone could ever tire of singing those choruses; there’s a reason they’ve lasted this long. Absolutely glorious.
Now as to all this talk of turkey, stuffing, pie et al… dang it, I’m hungry!
Hope the day / week is as rewarding as it is full, Elizabeth. And I’ve got the page on Amazon bookmarked for February. 😉
Comment by elizabeth — November 22, 2011 @ 12:22 am
I have no problem with E below middle C and by sounding like a foghorn can go down below the low C. In my misspent youth, when I didn’t know what the heck I was doing but singing and having fun, I used to sing all the parts I could of the musicals my mother had on records, and the very few bits of opera she had. Including Nellie Melba singing the Mad Scene from Lucia de Lammermoor. Took me awhile to learn that one.
In the alto-years, I often sang with the tenors when not needed as an alto, because it was easy. Presently, we’re working on getting consistently good high notes in the upper alto range, and then nudging the whole thing higher, because I used to be able to sing the high A easily and the C (2 octaves above middle C) with an effort. My upper E is solid now; we’re working on the F and F#; the G is occasional at this point and the A rare.
Just recently was able to reconnect the middle (the two ends of my voice had become disconnected with a weird noisy mess in the very middle) so I can sing low through high (high for me) smoothly, without losing quality in the middle with an obvious register change. It’s really fun to re-discover half my voice that I hadn’t used for years and make it better.
Comment by Jenn — November 22, 2011 @ 8:33 am
You win on the chili salsa!
Why do we love to eat the things that nearly kill us to prepare?
I am going to miss the Ukrainian contingent of Thanksgiving this year: perogies, kobasa, cabbage rolls. Yep now I am hungry.
Comment by elizabeth — November 22, 2011 @ 12:15 pm
Thunderstorms from 1 am to 4 am kept me awake; woke at 7ish and huddled under the covers another half hour. So far: tables are all set up (but uncovered), chairs are all set up, including chairs moved from this house to that. All chairs assigned this duty are non-wobbly. One table has its padding (improvised) and the other table will get it shortly (a couple of flannel sheets, folded.) One of the old tables has delaminated its underneath veneer, due to uneven humidity in that room and sheer age. Need to find wood glue and clamps; should be dry by T-day.
First wash is partly on the line and partly in the dryer; second wash is in; two tablecloths have gone totally missing (husband thinks he may have put them in a box and taken them to the storage unit.) So none here are long enough. But there are ways to deal with that, called “layering.” Layering will begin with the beige that covers the sides but is just an inch shorter than the end-to-end tables. Watch writer be creative and claim “design feature” rather than “no tablecloth long enough.” Writer used to have only sheets to use for tablecloths.
Son’s social worker just called and announced they had a meeting scheduled for this afternoon (which we hadn’t known about) so spouse has headed off for that and won’t be back for hours. Which means I’m “up” for all the prep of the day (and I wanted a nice nap after the night’s aerial tintinnabulations.
Turkeys are thawing. I’m off to sweep here and there, unload washer, load dryer, start another load (some things won’t dry outdoors in the weather we have today; others will.)
Comment by Daniel Glover — November 22, 2011 @ 6:38 pm
Lack of sleep is not good but I hope some of that rain is sticking around. With the drought you have been having it needs to stick around and get in the ground.
Comment by Wickersham's Conscience — November 24, 2011 @ 1:22 am
On a nearly unrelated note, R.I.P. Anne McCaffrey, 1926-2011. She popularized, if did not invent, technologically rationalized dragons.
Comment by Richard — November 24, 2011 @ 2:38 am
Happy Thanksgiving, Elizabeth (if that is the customary greeting).
Wickersham’s Conscience: oh no!
Comment by Richard — November 24, 2011 @ 2:41 am
[Second reaction] At home on Monday,I see (isn’t Google wonderful). Elizabeth, I know you co-authored with Anne, you must have known her well. Let us dedicate today to giving thanks for and celebrating her life.
Comment by Martin LaBar — November 24, 2011 @ 6:55 am
I’m thankful to God for you, and many other writers, and the effort you all have put in to make life more enjoyable (or, perhaps, more challenging) for me.
Comment by Daniel Glover — November 24, 2011 @ 10:31 am
Happy Thanksgiving Ms. Moon!
Just getting ready to head off to my own family gathering. My contribution this year, sweet potato shepherds pie.