Skip to content

Random Connections

A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Photos
  • Resources
  • Other Voices
  • Post Archives
  • Home
  • Miscellaneous
  • Singing for Your Supper

Singing for Your Supper

Posted on December 5, 2010 By Tom 1 Comment on Singing for Your Supper
Miscellaneous, Music

Greenville Chorale

This time of year gets crazy with concerts, parties, and other social obligations. It’s not quite as bad as when I was a choir director AND teaching school music, but it’s hectic, nonetheless. I always have additional singing gigs, and this year we seem to have more than usual.

We have a regular Carolina Christmas with the Greenville Chorale coming up next weekend, which is a joint concert with the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra. Friday, December 10, we sing at McAlister Auditorium at Furman, and then we repeat the concert in Hendersonville the following Saturday.

This past Saturday we sang for the city’s Christmas tree lighting prior to the Greenville Christmas Parade. A large portion of the Chorale gathered in the rain wearing Santa hats to sing carols before and after the lighting. It went very well, and the mayor said he’d love to see us come back each year. It was actually great publicity for the group.

Greenville Christmas TreeSingers GatheringTim in His TuxLight NecklaceSanta BlackberryLisa Bundled

However, most of our concerts involve payback (in the nice sense of the word.) Several groups have donated money to the Chorale, so we we come sing at their Christmas parties. We have several of those scheduled over the next couple of weeks.

These type of payback concerts are always problematic. First, we’re often singing very religious songs in a very secular, business environment. It seems a bit odd, but hasn’t been too much of a problem. The bigger issue has been with audience response. Sometimes we’re outright ignored. I got into a discussion about this with one of my fellow singers, who got all bent out of shape because no one was listening. His argument was that they had invited us, so they ought to pay attention. My response was that we were intruding on their party. If it were a concert situation it would be totally different. However, it’s not. Most often we’re singing at a company’s Christmas party where there is supposed to be food, drink, and conversation. I know it’s disappointing when there is no applause, and no one seems to listen, but you have to understand the circumstances.

I think that when singing groups try to force the issue they wind up doing more harm than good. Then it truly does become an unwelcome intrusion into someone else’s party. “Listen to me, damn it!” doesn’t get corporation donations. Just go with the flow, and be happy when one or two people do applaud or respond favorably.

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: A Christmas Carol
Next Post: Carols Ancient and Modern ❯

One thought on “Singing for Your Supper”

  1. Ken Cothran says:
    December 6, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    What the chamber group is providing in such cases is what used to be called incidental music, divertimenti, or serenades in Classical times. Background music.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • EdTech (200)
  • Entertainment (201)
  • Family (120)
  • Gear (115)
  • General Technology (99)
  • Geocaching and Maps (208)
  • History and Genealogy (260)
  • Internet (144)
  • Local (449)
  • Miscellaneous (544)
  • Music (194)
  • Paddling (245)
  • Photography (779)
  • Podcast (6)
  • Rambling (226)
  • Rants (160)
  • Recipes (34)
  • Religion (48)
  • Restaurants (165)
  • Science (48)
  • Things Overheard (29)
  • Travel (410)
  • Uncategorized (129)
  • Washington Sabbatical (113)
  • Weirdness (60)

Recent Posts

  • Wilkinsville and a Mystery Church
  • A Farewell to the Greenville Chorale
  • Edisto River from Good Hope to Sullivan’s Landing
  • Paddling Lake Monticello
  • The Remnants of the City

Recent Comments

  • Doris Street on Orphaned Graveyards and Family Connections in Ninety Six
  • Tim Cathcart on Wilkinsville and a Mystery Church
  • Lana on Visiting Camp Asylum
  • Tom on Wilkinsville and a Mystery Church
  • Gary Anderson on Wilkinsville and a Mystery Church

Tags

blogging cemetery Christmas Columbia Edisto River edtech Entertainment family Flickr Florida Furman Furman University gear Georgia geotagging Ghost Town Ghost Towns Google Earth Google Maps GPS Greenville Greenville Chorale history Instructional Technology kayaking Lake Jocassee LCU Lowcountry Unfiltered maps Music North Carolina Paddling Photography rambling restaurant Restaurants review singing social networking South Carolina time-lapse Travel video Washington Washington State
May 2022
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Apr    

Copyright © 2022 Random Connections.

Theme: Oceanly by ScriptsTown