This weekend I am performing in the Houston Symphony's The Planets by Holst. The Planets is an orchestral suite with each of the seven movements named after a planet in the solar system. Probably the most well-known movement is "Jupiter" (if you listen, skip to 2:48 and you'll recognize the tune). The Houston Symphony has done multiple performances of this throughout the year, along with touring to New York and Florida! I didn't do the tour, but this time around, I got selected to sing with a group of women of 32. There's 4 women on each vocal part (8 parts total). We sing in the final movement, "Neptune." We're going to be backstage wearing headphones to give us pitches. We also have to sound really light and etherial at the end and get very quiet, so we even have to put our hands up to our mouths to muffle the sound!
Which brings me to O.'s Song of the Moment: "Neptune" from Gustav Holst's The Planets! This video features the London Symphony Orchestra. If you aren't the symphonic music listening kind, skip to 3:58 to listen to the vocal part. I sing Soprano 1 in Chorus 1. Basically, that means I'm singing the highest part in the melody (not the echo). And the part where the voices fade away, that's when we'll be covering our mouths with our hands backstage. Haha!
Now I know this isn't nearly as entertaining as my thong leotard in the previous post, but turn those speakers up and delight in the mystic etherial-ness of Neptune!
What's really neat about this particular concert is that the Houston Symphony has paired up with NASA to project HD Satellite images of each planet as the respective movement is played. Check out this segment from a CBS special where the Houston Symphony's Planets was featured. It is pretty incredible!
Hope you enjoyed! If you ever get the chance to see The Planets live, you definitely should go!
4 comments:
That's so cool, good luck!
That's SO interesting! Are you soprano or something else, is that how the groups are divided?
Holst wrote two chorus parts (Chorus 1 and Chorus 2). Each chorus has a Soprano 1 & 2 and an Alto 1 & 2. So, in total, there are 8 different parts of vocal music, strictly for treble (women) voices. I sing Soprano 1 in Chorus 1.
great songs!! love your blog! i'll definitely be following your adventures :)
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