Two sold-out houses! Congratulations to the choir on good performances. My personal “best,” so to speak, was last night’s performance. As four tenors were absent on Friday night I sang tenor in some pieces with varying degrees of success. I noticed, however, that “my” basses had some problems with notes and entries. In order to “rest” my upper voice registers, I sang the audience carols an octave lower. Last night I returned to my usual spot amongst the first basses and we did much better. I did have some inadvertent solos where I came in, correctly I might add, and, a beat later, the rest of the basses joined in. Overall, though, I think the male sections of this choir have improved greatly in sound and quality over the past few months.

The music director made one cut last night (selections from Hadyn’s Creation) and tightened up the program. Friday night we ended with the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. Last night we had time to add Worthy is the Lord and the final Amens to that.

It seems that only four persons showed up to assemble the risers and set out the chairs which would explain why the audience was waiting in the narthex when I arrived at 10 to 7 on Saturday night. I might have come earlier had I known but I had already “served” three times and given up part of a vacation day, too. Fortunately the movers did the work last night after the concert.

I didn’t go to the pub last night even though it was on the way home. A Guinness would have been an excellent salve for the throat. I figured a the mixture of loud talking and alcohol might have “roughened” and deepened my voice too much for today’s concert. I was also tired of wearing my tux for the third evening this week.