Thursday, December 3, 2009

Apples vs. Ashes: The Mystery of the Random Word Change

Don't you hate it when you forget the words to a song you know backwards and forwards?  Seriously, it's one of the most annoying things about singing.  Instrumentalists don't have to remember words as well as notes!  I remember one jury in college, they asked me to sing my French song (I can't remember now what it was) and I totally forgot the words in the middle.  I just sang whatever French sounding words & syllables I could think of until I got back on track.  The professors were looking at me like "What?!"  I could see my voice teacher chuckling a little.  I got through the song and made a hasty retreat.  My friend was in the hall and had heard the whole thing.  "That was interesting," she said.  I just smiled.  I had survived the song, whether the words made sense or not!

I've learned all kinds of tricks over the years to remember certain words and phrases in songs.  Heck, not just songs.  My lines in shows, too.  I recently did my first play in many years (I primarily do musicals), and I had a ton of lines to memorize.  I figured out clues in other actors' lines and clues in my own lines to remember what came next.  And I made it through!  I never dropped a line!

Well, nothing could have prepared me for what happened at my voice lesson last night.  I am singing "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" for the recital this Sunday, and I know that song backwards and forwards.  I've obviously known the poem for even longer.  Well, I was singing away and this is what came out of my mouth:

All bundled in fur from his head to his foot
His clothes were all tarnished with apples and soot.

What?  Apples?  I started laughing.  Where did THAT come from?  It just came out.  Ashes.  ASHES!!!!

I can be a fairly random person, but even this took me by surprise.  Ah, the joy and silliness of singing!

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