![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I am soooooo tired!
Apr. 14th, 2010 08:57 pmI have been up since 5am, and was at work by 7 in order to catch a coach to Swansea. Today was the annual Staff General Meeting, and since we have now opened a new office in Newport it was being held in three venues; the Swansea Grand Theatre for the Swansea staff, St Davids Hall in Cardiff for my lot, and the Newport Hilton for the Newport people.
So we had to get to the Grand stupid-early in the morning for our soundcheck, then hang around till our spot about an hour into the programme before jumping on the coach back to Cardiff. While waiting, Bridget called the Altos into one of the dressing rooms for one more little rehearsal - which made one of the Sopranos joke that we're like a little club! *laughs* Since the soloist for the first part of the Michael Jackson medley was a Sop - and not in the room at the time - I quickly busked her part so the others could practise properly.
We then drove direct to St Davids Hall (using the rear stage door - which was novel as I've never been up on the roof of the St David's Centre before!) for another soundcheck, followed by more waiting. Suzi, Jo and I went to grab a coffee as a form of 'lunch break', before returning through the stage door that I remember using when I performed there as part of the South Glamorgan County Choir. It was funny heading for the coffee shop, though, as we had to pass all the people lining up to get into the Hall through the regular entrance - those of them who recognised us were all "Where are you going????" *laughs* I think we worried quite a few people!
There was a bit of a problem with the scheduling (these things never run correctly to time - I think the co-ordinator needed lessons off Ianto on how to use his stopwatch! *grin*) so we went on later than we'd expected. Then there was a problem with the coach so we hung around in the roof carpark for quite a while just chilling while we waited for the coach to come back for us.
Then we went to the Hilton outside Newport - which is not somewhere I'd ever been before. It's a bit of a departure singing on a stage in a meeting hall, but it wasn't a large crowd - probably didn't warrant booking The Waterfront just yet. As a result, we had nowhere to wait 'backstage' so we sat around in the lobby chatting. They were running even later than before this time, for some reason, so we had ages to wait. We spent the last half hour in the bar area just outside the conference room, which meant we had to keep very quiet...which is never easy when there's over forty of you! We didn't get out of there till gone 5, which had me worried as I was expecting Rowan back at home anytime after six... He spent the night at his friend's house, and they also collected him from school for me this afternoon.
We got back to the Cardiff office by quarter to six, and Suzi gave me a lift home so I was back in plenty of time for Rowan to get back home. Another friend in the Alto section, Zoe, had already offered me a lift home, but she lives all the way in Cwmbran and Suzi lives just ten minutes from me, so I thanked Zoe for being kind enough to put herself out for me but it made more sense for everyone if I accepted Suzi's offer instead.
On the whole, all three gigs went really well. There was a timing issue with the 'Man In The Mirror' section of the MJ Medley, but there was also a problem with the backing track at the first two gigs. This was fixed by Newport, but we still rushed a little. Had to keep an incredibly close eye on Andrea in order to bring ourselves back from that.
I am now extremely tired, thanks in part to what is for me a very, very early start, and partly from the sheer effort involved in those performances. We have to move a lot during the songs, and the adrenaline rush leaves you absolutely drained afterwards. I loved it though :-)
So we had to get to the Grand stupid-early in the morning for our soundcheck, then hang around till our spot about an hour into the programme before jumping on the coach back to Cardiff. While waiting, Bridget called the Altos into one of the dressing rooms for one more little rehearsal - which made one of the Sopranos joke that we're like a little club! *laughs* Since the soloist for the first part of the Michael Jackson medley was a Sop - and not in the room at the time - I quickly busked her part so the others could practise properly.
We then drove direct to St Davids Hall (using the rear stage door - which was novel as I've never been up on the roof of the St David's Centre before!) for another soundcheck, followed by more waiting. Suzi, Jo and I went to grab a coffee as a form of 'lunch break', before returning through the stage door that I remember using when I performed there as part of the South Glamorgan County Choir. It was funny heading for the coffee shop, though, as we had to pass all the people lining up to get into the Hall through the regular entrance - those of them who recognised us were all "Where are you going????" *laughs* I think we worried quite a few people!
There was a bit of a problem with the scheduling (these things never run correctly to time - I think the co-ordinator needed lessons off Ianto on how to use his stopwatch! *grin*) so we went on later than we'd expected. Then there was a problem with the coach so we hung around in the roof carpark for quite a while just chilling while we waited for the coach to come back for us.
Then we went to the Hilton outside Newport - which is not somewhere I'd ever been before. It's a bit of a departure singing on a stage in a meeting hall, but it wasn't a large crowd - probably didn't warrant booking The Waterfront just yet. As a result, we had nowhere to wait 'backstage' so we sat around in the lobby chatting. They were running even later than before this time, for some reason, so we had ages to wait. We spent the last half hour in the bar area just outside the conference room, which meant we had to keep very quiet...which is never easy when there's over forty of you! We didn't get out of there till gone 5, which had me worried as I was expecting Rowan back at home anytime after six... He spent the night at his friend's house, and they also collected him from school for me this afternoon.
We got back to the Cardiff office by quarter to six, and Suzi gave me a lift home so I was back in plenty of time for Rowan to get back home. Another friend in the Alto section, Zoe, had already offered me a lift home, but she lives all the way in Cwmbran and Suzi lives just ten minutes from me, so I thanked Zoe for being kind enough to put herself out for me but it made more sense for everyone if I accepted Suzi's offer instead.
On the whole, all three gigs went really well. There was a timing issue with the 'Man In The Mirror' section of the MJ Medley, but there was also a problem with the backing track at the first two gigs. This was fixed by Newport, but we still rushed a little. Had to keep an incredibly close eye on Andrea in order to bring ourselves back from that.
I am now extremely tired, thanks in part to what is for me a very, very early start, and partly from the sheer effort involved in those performances. We have to move a lot during the songs, and the adrenaline rush leaves you absolutely drained afterwards. I loved it though :-)
