So far today, it’s Snowbird in my head, over & over & over again. My brain is fighting the sneak attack by a choir of children on the radio, singing a song they wrote about conquering adversity. The Governor General was present for the singing and said some nice words after the children stopped singing. This made me wonder: how much of the job of GG must be like that and if it’s even 10%, why would you want the job of GG? Travelling around, looking at things and commenting on them. Oh, these woods were burned out by fire. Too bad. Have a medal. Next? Yikes – lots of flooding here. Keep on keeping on! Next? Some adorable children singing a song they wrote. Very nice. Next?
I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face. Yeah, I used to be a kid in a choir what sang for important people. But I’m not anymore. At one concert, they taped us and I listened to the tape afterwards (I was 10) and I could hear all the cracking notes and the shrieky high bits plus I’d never really thought about the lyrics to any of these kid-songs before I heard them played back. The only one I remember is “All the Pretty Little Horses:”
“Blacks and bays, dapples and greys, all the pretty little horses. When you wake, you will find, all the pretty little horses.” The best part was when the sopranos would sing, “see them prance-ing,” and the altos would sing, “dance-ing!”
No, really, that was the best part.
I was a descant, which is higher than soprano. Till I was about 16. Then I became an alto, mysterious and Liz Phair-like. Liz Phair pre-Matrix. (sigh.) I thought I could be a star, but I blew my chance when I didn’t join the Vancouver Bach Children’s Chorale They wanted money, like dues, and we weren’t gonna pay it, no way. This talent doesn’t pay for opportunity, this talent gets paid! Well, in theory.
But I auditioned and I got in. The audition was in a church on Sasamat Street, in Kits. If I’d joined the Vancouver Bach Children’s Chorale, who knows where I’d be now.
Anyway, the Governor General. What a job. There must be something about it that is yummy and good. Like the pay, probably. And the prestige. But Adrienne Clarkson wasn’t exactly Jenny from the Block before she was GG. She was a journalist, wasn’t she? and a supporter of the arts and a woman about town. Maybe I’ll email her and ask for an interview.