Changed da house,
Changed da look.
BTW, my bathrobe's usually pink
and we don't have a fireplace.
Other than that,
it's pretty accurate...
Psst...click the words above to navigate.
Best viewed, unfortunately, in Internet Explorer.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
~ It's Mrs MARKETINGMANAGER Velle to you ~
I AM OFF THE EMPLOYMENT-CAMPAIGNING MARKET!
It is official. I have accepted what I'd initially referred to as the Purple Dinosaur Job ("I love you, You love me...") It successfully marries two of my many loves - singing, and Integrated Marketing Communication.
To put it all in a nutshell, I'll be working for a nonprofit organisation that plants choirs all over Australia. I've been told some travelling will be involved (some 28 choirs went to Gallipoli this year to sing at the 90th anniversary of all that fighting). I also get to do something I never really thought I'd do - de-snobberise the entire classical concept of Choirs. All their choirs consist of people who might have been told at a tender young age that They Cannot Sing, They Bray. There are no auditions; shower singers are most welcomed and trained. Tone-deafness is accepted and ultimately corrected, and the loudest message of all is that Singing Is For Everyone, so Stop Saying It Isn't.
Initially, I was uncomfortable with the concept. I'd been fighting to be part of the Best Choir for years in Singapore. We LIVED to crow over the choirs that lost (although we hid the gloating with an air of superior restraint, professionalism and - dare I say it?!! - Sportsmanship.) I am STILL proud to have been part of the elusive ACJC choir, and I STILL poke fun at VJC and their darling maestro. Auditions were tough, many were left behind, and those that made it felt like 'A' Grade Virtuosos.
But I also remember how I was yelled at heaps when I couldn't live up to the moment; when fatigue literally left me crying because I'd sing from 8am to 10pm on Saturdays in 3 different choirs "because I had the voice"; when I was left on the outside pretty much looking in because I wasn't pretty/cooperative/pitch-perfect. And I remember how Madam had her favourites. How all of them did. And how all of them were really complete snobs, because that was "part of the craft".
Yeah, whatever.
Look, I've always known I didn't suck at singing, but what is also lesser known is how I champion the croaker. I find it touching that people who are absolutely tone-deaf in church also sing the heartiest. One might argue they sing LOUDLY precisely because they ARE tone-deaf, but there's this guy in the Canberra church called Kevin and he loves, loves, loves singing. And he throws the song leader off at times because he's super-loud, but I find myself grinning when he does, because I've long had sulky kids in bible class with mealy mouths who think it's beneath them to sing to God. At age FIVE. It's REFRESHING to see a man with white hair displaying less cynicism than a five year old, I'll tell you that.
I'm Mrs Velle who Used to Sing Hoity-Toity... and Madam, I'm setting out to free the masses.
1 Comments:
Right, an ACJC Choir alumnus! I was wondering who this random person linking to my blog was. Thanks for the link!
By
ketsugi, at 2:28 am
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