Evelyn, The "Self Taught" Opera Singer

At the moment, the character entertaining me the most in CasualTown Chorus is Evelyn. Evelyn joined the chorus this year and arrived proclaiming her status as a "Self-Taught" Opera singer. Apparently, Evelyn woke up one morning a few years ago and realized (at the age of...oh...maybe 55?) that she missed her calling as an opera singer. So she proceeded to teach herself.

**I must insert here, that my husband is a bonafide, NON-Self Taught opera singer. With, you know...an actual career. He gets paid to sing. And has paid countless amounts of money to conservatories and teachers over the years to "teach" him how to be an opera singer. Oh, if only he had known that you can teach YOURSELF to sing opera! Gosh, we could save ourselves $500 a month in student loan payments and voice lessons...if only he had realized early on that he could have taught himself!**

***Another aside...here are some great tips on how to teach yourself how to sing opera. You're welcome, Kermit.***

I'm not sure if Evelyn the Self-Taught Opera Singer (let's call her STOS from here on) employs the Kermit Technique explained in the video above, but she sure can contrive some vibrato! I wonder if there is a youtube video out there that teaches the STOS vibrato technique? Like with suggestions of "close the back of your throat off and then use your diaphragm to gently pulse on the note until the pitch changes and wobbles"? No? Well, I'm pretty sure that is how STOS creates hers.

For the most part, STOS is a very pleasant person to be around. While a bit nutso, she is always perky and pleasant. I'll take that any day over dour, unpredictable, aggressive, and crazy (don't worry, you'll encounter Crazy Michelle in a future post!). I don't enjoy sitting near her at rehearsal (due to the STOS vibrato technique and hanging over through every cutoff), but talking with her can actually be fun.

But, there is one thing STOS does that truly drives me nuts. Many folks who sing in CasualTown Chorus also sing in CasualTown Church Choir (the director is the same for both groups). After she made her debut with CasualTown chorus, STOS also decided to join CasualTown Church Choir. Because the CasualTown Church Choir is pretty good for a church choir, there are usually more singers than seats available in the choir seating area. After STOS had been attending CasualTown church for awhile, we noticed that she was leaving 20-30 minutes into the service, before we had even sung the choir anthem. She was attending weeknight rehearsals, coming to before-service rehearsals at 9 AM...and then leaving before we even "performed" our main piece! To top it all off, she was taking up one of the coveted seats in the choir area...while others who stay and sing at both church services were left standing in the back. Finally, a brave soul asked STOS why she leaves every Sunday. Apparently, since she just loves to sing sooooo much, STOS is also a member of CasualTown College's Chapel Choir! Their service begins at 11 AM...so she has to hurry out so she can bestow her STOS vibrato technique on them as well.

I really don't understand this, dear readers. Pick a church, pick a choir, and stick with it! And for goodness sake, if you are going to be a choir slut (please excuse my language!), at least be observant enough to realize that you should not take up one of the coveted seats!

Oh, there are so many STOS stories I have to tell...even from the few short months I have known her. STOS will definitely (hopefully?) be one of the Sagas on this blog. Stay tuned, folks.

Encounters Explained

Hi there. My name is Kate*. I love people. Truly. I love encountering people; especially those that make me laugh. As much as I wanted to fit in as a child, as I've grown older, the eccentric people in the world are the ones that entertain me the most. But enough about me...this blog is a place for me to relate my encounters, moments, and sagas with other characters in the world (do you like how I tied that in to my blog title?) I have another blog that is a blog about my life and is read by those who know me IRL...but this one is purely for entertainment.

Anyway, I sing in a community chorus. I imagine most of the experiences with characters I mention will be with folks from the chorus. You just can't imagine what characters are attracted to a community chorus! The chorus is located in CasualTown USA. CasualTown itself is not large, but is located near two fairly large metropolitan areas. It has its own character and feel, but also can serve as a "suburb" for those Metro areas. As such, it has a thriving arts community for its size. I should also mention that the median age of folks in the CasualTown Community Chorus is probably 50. If not older.

There have been so many funny stories and characters that I have run into in the past few years, that I doubt I'll be able to recount them all here. I'll do my best...and so I imagine the first few months of this venture will be chronicling past encounters, moments, and sagas. But don't worry, if there are new ones that crop up, I'll be sure to pass them along, too!

*All names will be changed to protect the odd, eccentric, crazy, and dumb (myself included!)