That's TWO things, actually, Jamie

(at one point tonight, Jamie said that it didn't sound as if people were taking a breath where instructed on page 88 of "The Bells". He said: "That means only one thing - you're cheating, or you're not working hard enough.")

Many, many Jamieisms tonight. So I'll list them first. (We had sectionals in the first half again, but the ladies were with Jamie this week.) (We did a bit of work on "The Hills" when we got back together, but mainly it was work on the harder bits of "The Bells". Although yet again the bit starting at page 51 was missed. We stopped 4 bars before it at the end of the sectional, and when we sang through a big chunk of the 3rd movement at the end as a full choir, we stopped at page 49. Again. See, it looks as if we've worked on it, because we all have things written on those pages, but those marks are mainly from the language rehearsals. We've only actually sight-read that section, on two widely-separated occasions. We've never note-bashed it, and I really think it will need it.)

Anyway, my favourite of tonight's Jamieisms (there were more).

"Every rehearsal I feel like I'm throwing stuff at a wall. Most of it falls off..."

"I should be able to see the blood in your eyes!" (to the sops on p42)

"Suddenly I feel like a tai chi instructor." (after demonstrating yet more vowels-accompanied-by-hand-movements)

"I'm the ambassador from the sovereign state of Xenia."

But the best one had to be his description of the busker that played his violin so much that he's only got ONE FINGER left... and it's bleeding... I can't even remember what he was trying to illustrate with this analogy! I was too amused!

A couple of other random thoughts: Firstly, it occurred to me, while reciting "slukh nash sladastna" on page 7, how similar Russian is to Orcish. (Those who are bigger Tolkien geeks than me will no doubt claim they're totally different. But still.) And secondly, I realised that Jamie's "vowel face" makes him look rather like Logan Echolls. (Except with less hair.) Alarming. (Logan Echolls is a character on a TV programme called Veronica Mars.)

Finally, to change the subject, I want to mention a few more search terms that have brought people to this blog. Quite a lot lately have been searching for "engage the enemy more closely", which I quoted a few months ago. A few seem to have been searching for me specifically, which is a little spooky. We've also had visitors looking for "choir outfits style for ladies", "liz and lisa", "Haydn's Nelson Mass mp3", and "jon christos". (Quite a few for him, actually. And as a result we seem to be linked from this page, which may amuse those who sang with Russell Watson a few years ago.) Oh, and there was also a search for "jamie hare", which baffled me, because I didn't remember ever using the word "hare", but then I saw that it led to this post :-)

I suppose I ought to explain the "facial urge jamie" searches, since I found out the answer last week and promised to explain. It seems there is a website called Facial Urge (PLEASE NOTE: if you are at work this site will probably be blocked, as it is a porn site. Don't click unless you're sure you want to see.) Anyway, there is a girl on that website called Jamie, and I assume it is her that all these people are searching for.

P.S. For those who have asked how to download my mp3 files of "The Bells": You need to go to this post and right-click on each of the links (i.e. where it says "1st movement" etc.). You should get a drop-down menu which will include "save target as..." or something similar (I don't use Windows so I don't remember the exact words). Select that, and then it will probably ask you where you want to save it. Save it wherever you like as long as you know where it is!