Halloween Decorations and an Autumn Day

Sam loves to decorate for the holidays, which is a trait that I think he inherited from J's mom. This morning we pulled out our small box of Halloween decorations, and Sam had most of them up and arranged within about five minutes. You'll notice that they are all concentrated 1) at Sam's about eye level and 2) at one of his favorite areas of the house, the entertainment center. I look forward to watching television with a smiling jack-o'-lantern bag blocking my view.

We have spent a nice day at home on in this brisk autumn weather, only to go outside to mow the lawn. It's so relieving for me to get caught up on all of the projects, grading, and household tasks that accumulate over the weeks. J cooked a lovely dinner and the boys cleaned the house while I graded papers. Right now J is giving Sam a haircut. I feel like we are on top of things and ready for the next week. I really need to remind myself to stay home on the weekends more often.

Sam in Love

Sam and I just had this conversation about the little girl who lives across the street. She and Sam are in the same class at school. Today she made a love note for Sam, which he opened once he came home. After he pulled the card out of the envelope, we had the following conversation:

Sam (in a tone of disbelief): Mom...I know it sounds crazy, but L and I are best friends and we're in love!

Me: Oh, really? You're in love?

Sam: Yep. Isn't that crazy?

Me: What do you love about L?

Sam: I don't know.

Wedding bells aren't going to peal anytime soon, but Sam did tell me that he and L want to get a dog together when they are grown-ups. That's a commitment, to say the least! L is a very cute and bright girl. I'm tickled that the card she made for Sam has the phrase "labor of love" (which her mom said she got off of a television show). Ha ha!

Current Choir Music

I am really enjoying singing in the university choir this quarter, especially since we are preparing for our Christmas concert! Our conductor is really great. She is very organized and has great methods for keeping the choir members on task and prepared to sing. We hardly have any "note plunking" during choir at all. Choir members are required to come to rehearsals already familiar with their singing parts, so we spend our time in rehearsal working on phrasing and dynamics. Our conductor also has a background in vocal pedagogy, so she spends about 20-30 minutes doing various vocal exercises with the choir at the beginning of each rehearsal. She's quite a character, too, so it's fun to work with her.

I already feel like my voice is getting into better shape. I'm glad to learn new vocal exercises and methods from this conductor; I felt like my private vocal lessons as an undergraduate were rather unvaried for several years, since all of my graduate-student teachers were trained in the same BYU vocal method. Some of the suggestions that were given to me never worked, even though they were taught to me over and over for several years. Hopefully these new exercises and tips will help me to work out some of the trouble spots with my voice.

Here are some audio clips of the pieces that we are rehearsing right now:


"Adam Lay YBounden" by Boris Ord (.PDF of sheet music available online)


"In the Bleak Midwinter" by Harold E. Darke (.PDF of sheet music available online)


"Salvation is Created" by Pavel Tschesnokoff (.PDF of sheet music available online)

"Magnificat" by Donald Kendrick (listen and see sheet music online)

"Tyrle, Tyrlow, Tyrle, Tyrlow (So Merrily the Shepherds Began to Blow)" by Healey Willan (You can listen to a preview of this song online)

I keep thinking of my friend ixoj when I am at rehearsal almost every day. I miss singing with her in choirs, and I know that she would love to sing the music that we are singing. Plus, we are also singing the "Hodie" chant from Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, which specifically makes me miss singing with ixoj in the Christmas Chorus with Martha Sargeant.