Through

Someone alerted me yesterday to a long-distance train strike tomorrow, when I have a ticket for a nine-hour journey. I went to the station first thing to check and thankfully the information about the trains affected, which they had only just received, said that mine is still due to run. We'll see tomorrow.

The rest of the day was taken up with concert stuff: a rehearsal this morning, a soundcheck this afternoon then the concert this evening, with not quite enough time between commitments to do anything worthwhile except admire the city as I walked between venues.

Several members of the Man Choir introduced their pieces and I was very impressed at their Italian accents. I discovered afterwards that most of them do not speak Italian and had memorised what they had to say, including the person who recited a poem. Wow... They learn all their pieces by ear then sing from memory and I suspect there is a connection. Given that I am acutely aware of an English accent in foreign languages and I pick up sounds in other languages easily, I wonder whether I should try learning music by ear. Trouble is, I've been reading music since I was 6 and even on the odd occasion that I am taught something by ear, I imagine the music on a stave and surreptitiously write it out as I go. Try harder?

The Man Choir, a 60-strong amalgamation of two Padovan choirs (Blubordò and Choritaly), our choir, the twinning dignitaries from Oxford and Padova, the representative of the Dutch charity that is funding an integrated children's playground for which the concert is helping to raise funds...  That's a lot of speeches (mercifully not all translated), a cascade of thank yous and a huge amount of clapping. You'd think we'd saved the world, rather than just had fun singing to each other. 

But perhaps if we all just sang to each other...