Mamma Mia... That's Life! by Valerie Barona

Author:Valerie Barona
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2015-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

15

Do, Re, Me

“Hai tempo per un caffè?” Silly question – I always had time for a coffee.

“Sì, certo.”

Sure enough, ten minutes later my friend, Patrizia rang the bell and the conversation went like this:

“Ciao. I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I want to know what you think.”

“Sì?” I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Grazie,” she said, gulping her espresso before I’d even sat down.

“A choir. I want to start a church choir here, in Piussogno. What do you think?”

“Well, it’s a good idea but how are you going to choose choir members?”

I couldn’t help thinking of some of the congregation singing flatly to hymns during the Sunday service.

“That’s not a problem. We’ll have a meeting to discuss it and then choose an evening for choir practice.” Her enthusiasm was almost tangible and we spent the next hour discussing the new project.

Patrizia decided to ask permission to hold the meeting in the primary school, in the square. Nearly all of the villagers turned out to see what this choir business was all about. After much debate regarding the evening for practices – it couldn’t be held on a Wednesday because there were usually football matches on television, then the time – not before 8.30pm because a lot of people worked until 7pm and we had to take into consideration the fact that they needed to relax a bit after the meal – so, we settled for Tuesdays at 8.30pm in the church. On 15th February, 1991, Michele, Alex, Elisa and I went along, even though I suggested Michele stayed home. He has a great voice singing in the shower but elsewhere, it doesn’t seem to have the same effect.

“Now, I want to hear all of you sing a few notes in order to sort out the voices,” Patrizia said in Italian and not dialect. A few people started muttering and looking uncomfortable, others looked behind them to see how far away the door was.

She played the organ and asked a group of young women to sing. After much coughing and giggling, but no actual singing, she chose a different tactic. Catching my eye, she asked how many people played musical instruments and could read music. I put my hand up, so did Alex and Elisa and several young teenagers followed suit. I smiled encouragingly at Patrizia – it was a start. She forced a smile back then began playing a well-known hymn and everyone joined in. An hour and a half later, as we got ready to go home, Patrizia asked me to stay behind.

“Have I done the right thing?”

“Of course you have. It’ll just take a bit longer to teach new hymns, that’s all. Don’t worry.” I felt quite optimistic, that is until I found myself between two sopranos, who should have been contraltos and who sang their own thing regardless. I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Michele was a regular member until I winced once too often. At that point, he decided that maybe he should stick to his personal renditions in the shower.

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