An ode to Zoom choir rehearsals
30 Mar 2022
30 March 2022
We love hearing from our members and were delighted to receive a clever poem from Julia Banks of Cockle Bay, Auckland, about the current reality of rehearsing on Zoom. We asked Julia to tell us a little about her connection with NZCF…
From school days onwards I have sung in choirs and taken roles onstage in musicals. My husband Trevor and I enjoy singing in the City of Auckland Singers – longtime members of NZCF – having joined the choir 28 years ago! We have had some amazing experiences with the choir, including competing and performing in Italy, Australia, and the Eisteddfod in Wales. Throughout the mid-1990s we both had the thrill of singing in the huge massed choir at “Symphony Under The Stars.”
I love music and I love words, so I’ve combined them in penning original songs and song parodies. Lately I’ve been writing light-hearted verse to brighten these strange times, and I’ve started presenting these and my song parodies as entertainment.
Julia says her poem is purely fictional and not a reflection of her own choir!
The Choir Director
We couldn’t use the rehearsal room
No problem! We just went on Zoom.
(At least at home, no-one could ask
Us all to sing AND wear a mask.)
Rehearsal starts and up they pop;
The faces – yours is at the top.
You smile, you chat, you greet them all
Your pile of music there on call.
But THIS time, in a move astute
You think it’s time to turn off “MUTE!”
You get them all to “UNMUTE” then
They sing…. And that’s the moment when
You find these folk with lovely voices
Lately have made lazy choices.
At Zoom meetings all year long
No-one has SUNG a single SONG!
And when you thought they’d hit top G
They’d sung it – yes – but SILENTLY!
They’ve mouthed the words and wagged the tongue
And moved the lips – but just stayed mum.
The noise you’re hearing now, unmuted
Is unmusicality undiluted!.
That Sunday concert that you’d planned
In all good faith must now be canned!