"In the past, we've called this the Dirty E Vowel."

The Dirty E vowel will come to haunt us all over the next few weeks, I fear. It's that "y with an umlaut" Russian vowel that so many of us can't say (well, I can't, at least). We've had loads of Russian coaching over the past few years, but none of it seems to have explained clearly enough (IMHO) exactly how to do this vowel. Oh well. Maybe there'll be an epiphany at some point soon :-)

On my way out in a minute, but was so tired when I got home last night that I thought I'd better post last night's thoughts before I go to tonight's rehearsal - less to do tonight, when I'll be tireder! (Yes, I know that's not actually a word...)

Last night was the first ladies' sectional of the year, when we also met both the RNCM singers (who are augmentintg the choir for this project) and Natalia, the Russian coach. We got a lot done, mainly on the 3rd symphony (which we almost reached the end of) because the 2nd symphony is in the process of having a new score produced, which we will get tonight, and the transliteration is different. I got told off by some of the other 2nd altos for singing all the high notes (including the optional ones)... I don't like singing high, and it's not pleasant for anyone nearby, but if I've got to sing some really high notes, I find it much easier to do so if I stay up there rather than swooping around all over the place. That's my excuse, at least!

Not many Jamieisms. There was something in the warmup about creating mini-pizzas the size of dolls' houses, and keeping them all spinning at different points in mid-air, but I wasn't able to write this down at the time (as I was busy creating said mini-pizzas!) so I don't recall the exact words! There was also "your strength is THERE" (i.e. around your waist) "and you just drop it all"... but that was a bit more visual :p

Actually I think the exchange that amused me most was this one:

JAMIE: We'll go from figure 9.
CHOIR: You mean 99.
JAMIE: What did I say?
CHOIR: 9.
JAMIE: Brilliant.

Not sure why that amused me so - you had to be there!

Anyway. Must leave the house in 4 minutes' time. EGM tonight - I'm hoping the subs thing will be passed without too much fuss, because you really wouldn't believe how much time we've spent working on this, and I honestly believe it's the only way forward. Most of the comments I've had from people have been favourable, but I did just get an email from someone who is very definitely NOT in favour. But then she only found out about it today. I'm not at all sure that it was made clear to people that the EGM was tonight, which concerns me, but maybe it was and I was daydreaming. Anyway, we'll see.

Oh, finally: couple of recent searches I like. Apparently this blog is now 2nd in the worldwide Google rankings if you search for "bottom of shoe images", and (somewhat more surprisingly) "skinny dipping nova scotia"! Google them yourself to see why :p