just working on a cantata. This is a rush job if ever there was one: last Wednesday in choir practice the director asked, half-jokingly, if I could write up a cantata for the choir to sing on Palm Sunday. I said yes, at which point her eyes lit up and she said, “Really?! We’ll pay you! When can you have it done?”
And I’m all like, “Next week.”
I’m thinking I should’ve asked for another week. But it is coming along splendidly, and I’m making use of pre-existing music to pad things out. That was her idea, and a good one: our choir is notoriously resistant to any new music, no matter how easy to learn it is. So I’m simplifying my language, keeping things short, throwing in solos for the two or three of us who actually WANT to learn something new, and using plenty of old hymns. Oh, and I’m ripping off Bach. Because I can’t outdo him, of course.
Someday I hope to get back to my Rogue’s Gallery of role models, but that day is not today. Anyway, back to work!
