'What's the point of making mistakes if I can't hear them?' (Maestro Boy)

A classic line from our valiant leader there. When we sight-read a piece for the first time we tend to mumble through it, not wanting our mistakes to be too obvious. Mumbling is upped a notch when we sing a work like Betinis' Dormi Jesu which we started last night. It is written in a ridiculous key and then dotted with accidentals, including a double sharp which Maestro Boy tried to explain to us. What is the point of a double sharp one wonders? Suffice to say we didn't come up with any definitive answer to this thorny question, but we did enjoy singing this piece. I have no doubt that there is some intelligent muso out there with a first class music degree from, say, a prestigious institution like Edinburgh University who could provide an in-depth but accessible explanation, but alas, where does one find such a person? We, rather remarkably, got all the way through, start to finish. Don't get me wrong, it's not quite at performance level yet but we were suitably chuffed with ourselves.

We were a little short of Rudsambee-lets last night but we did have two piddly altos (one was Rach so one very piddly alto :-) ). And, after Sebastian led us in a jazzy little round, we worked on with another new piece about Margot (who labourez les vignes). It is very fun and we learnt it orally (goodness, the Rudsambee-lets were on fire last night!). We then did it in smaller groups as we'll be doing lots of quartet work for Christmas. Forget the Sixteen, it's the Four you want.

Despite lots of folks being absent, one welcome return to the Rudsambee fold was Anna-Lauren who has been away for a few months. Huzzah to have you back, lady. The sopranos have been sadly lacking in glamour and extremo high notes since you have been gone.

And so the festival lumbers on like a great big bear, and town remains as busy as ever. I am having a couple of weeks off (don't even think about robbing my house in my absence blog fans - we have some serious security going on!) so will see you in September. Hopefully there will be a bit of blogging anyways so tune in.

Enjoy the sunshine and blue skies which, rather unbelievably, are present and correct in Auld Reekie this happy morn.

CSW