General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It's that time of the year...what is your favorite Christmas Carol? [View all]gopiscrap
(23,733 posts)by the time I was 6 years old. I sang solo's at the Cathedral in Frankfurt when I was nine. At 10 and half I auditioned for the seated professional boy choir of the Cathedral and was accepted and started doing their solo's. My director had me send in a tape and then I was asked to do a personal audition and was seated for their second tier choir. This was the traveling choir. We only sang in St. Peters twice once at our commissioning and also at our homecoming otherwise our home congregation was St. John Lateran the bishop's seat of Rome.
We lived in dorms with house parents for most of the weeks (Sun eve thru Thur afternoon) except for when we were on the road. We practiced twice a day for 90 minutes each time and were tutored more or less classroom style for four hours a day.
We were able to sing in 51 nations. During that year. I kick myself now because we were also given a lot of touring opportunities but I didn't appreciate it as an 11-12 year old. As an example we were in Egypt and being given a tour of the pyramids and our hotel had a pool. At that point in my life I cared more about the pool than the pyramids.
What it did for me, was give me an immense appreciate=ion for good sound choral music and also good liturgy. It taught me how to connect people from all over the world and gave me an ability to acclimate just about anywhere I am placed. I am deeply appreciative of the chance not few ever receive and because of it, I have been involved in church music all my life. In fact I am singing at an Eritrean Orthodox funeral Mass on December 28th in Asmara Eritrea for a dear friend of mine who passed away.