I do like friendly house singings, and that’s what we had today.
Today the Palo Alto Sacred Harp singers met in Sue’s house. At the peak, there were fourteen of us singing: six tenors, two trebles, three altos, and two basses. This proved to be a nice balance of voices for the room: the tenors dominated, as they’re supposed to, but you could also hear all the other parts.
I always have a delightful time singing with the Palo Alto crew. Everyone is friendly and relaxed; everyone is willing to go over a part or sing the shapes a second or third time until we really get it right; and we tend to sing more verses and more repeats which I find helps make me a better and more accurate singer. Today, Jeannette and some others chose less familiar tunes, and it was good to work on unfamiliar tunes in such a friendly and supportive atmosphere. We also sang a lot of our favorites, and it was equally good to spend time singing without having to think so much.
Unfortunately, I had to leave early to go back to work, so I didn’t get to stay for the pasta dinner after the singing.
(On a side note, today Paul and I talked briefly about West Gallery music; we’re both interested in Sacred Harp-style music that can include melody insturments. I pointed him to some online sheet music for West Gallery music, and I’ve now added those links to the sidebar. I’ve set one West Gallery tune in four-shape notes, and someday I’ll have to bring this to a Palo Alto singing so Paul and I can sing some West Gallery music!)