We Sang With Gay Abandon
I had the most liberating experience ever yesterday.
My jazz chorale group ‘Showboat’ sang for the nuptials of a friend.
We did the Kyrie & Agnus Dei ‘Gregorian chant’ style, the Proclamation ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ style, My God & I Will Follow Him, ‘Sister Act’ style ( including dialogues, accents and solos), the Psalm, ‘negro spiritual’ style interjected by a cacaphony of dum de dums, ‘good gods’ and other such spontaneous babble, the ‘Peace’, a meloncholic ‘‘Simon & Garfunkel’ style.
The response from the congregation was bountiful, exhilerating.
It hardly mattered, the singing made me ecstatic, wild with energy and exhuberance.
The elderly cried at the Kyrie. The young uns’ tapped to ‘I Will Follow Him’.
I think the vision of my conductor Alan was realized finally. It was to sing with soul, to proclaim the word of the lord with gay abandon and to honour the zenith of true love. And we did just that.
We were approached to sing at more weddings. But I don’t think we shall. We are an ‘experimental’ jazz choir. We cannot be sterotyped as a ‘wedding’ choir, but we would sing with joy, for a close friend.
It was the most wonderful experience. I have sung with a world class choir. But this experience was far superior, because my role was not merely that of a singer, but a performer. I could let go of all prudish restraint.
I have so much faith in the abilities of Alan my conductor. He has a vision, he has the courage to experiment, he has class and what’s more, he delves into the history of every song, so we know exactly how we are to treat and why me must sing it the way we are.
I once sang ’summertime’ in a husky, seductive voice. Now I cringe at the thought. The song is a lullaby which used to be sung tenderly by humungous black women to their sleeping babes, their style anything but husky.
