I need honey!

I am getting nervous! Stage fright is starting to set in.

What am I talking about?

On 8 November 2008, a friend will be getting married. Some of us have been roped in to be the coordinator, lector, reader and/or usher for the church wedding. So far, the list does not sound daunting, does it? Wait! There's more.... yes, 3 ladies (including yours truly) and 1 gentleman have been conscripted into the choir!

I used to be in my school choir. In fact, I was in the choir from primary 3 (Grade 3) till Junior College 2 (Grade 12). I was a first soprano. There was a year where the new choir teacher transferred me to second soprano. It was a big mistake. I had difficulty singing the lower notes. Needless to say, I was back to being a first soprano before long.

However, the last time that I performed publicly was in 1990. That was eons ago!

There will be several hymns / songs sung during the wedding service. Some of these hymns/songs may be familiar to you:-

(a) Shine Jesus Shine

(b) Loving and Forgiving (Psalm 103)

(c) Sing Alleluia to the Lord

(d) The Lord's Prayer

(e) Perhaps Love

(f) Praise her with a flower

With the exception of "Perhaps Love", which is a secular song, the rest of the songs in the list above are Christian/Catholic songs/hymns.

The bride's sister will be singing "Loving and Forgiving" and "Praise her with a flower" solo. I have been asked to sing "Perhaps Love" solo. Our little choir will be singing "Shine Jesus Shine", "Sing Alleuia to the Lord" and "The Lord's Prayer".

These few days, I have been busy trying to locate youtube videos of the above songs so that we can practise. I have managed to find youtube videos for all the songs except for "Praise her with a flower". However, a colleague of mine happens to have a CD entitled "Fifty Years of Love and Blessings" (which is dedicated to Mother Mary) which contains 4 songs, including "Praise her with a flower". Phew!

RT, the "thorn amongst the roses" in the choir is a very talented pianist. He is also the brother of my friend SC. He plays the piano for his church choir. In fact, he also played the piano at Da's and my wedding and also SC's and WC's wedding several years ago.

The choir as well as WC (whom SC says "cannot carry a tune" but who has been assigned the role of "head usher" at the wedding) will be meeting at RT's home this evening to practise the songs (for the very first time!). The last we checked with RT on 25 October 2008, he said that he is familiar with all the songs except "Perhaps Love". Gasp! That is the song that I am supposed to sing solo! Yesterday night, I emailed the link to the youtube video for "Perhaps Love" to SC. Hey, girl, please ask RT to watch the youtube video - I would like to sing a pitch lower because I am "no Placido Domingo" (*grin*).

Gosh! What happened to our power of memorisation as we grow older? I need to buy some ginko biloba (which is believed to help one's memory)! I have been trying to memorise the lyrics to "Perhaps Love". However, I do have to bear in mind that the choir will also be singing three other songs! Frankly speaking, I do not think that I will be able to memorise 4 songs by 8 November 2008. I think that I will stick to memorising "Perhaps Love" and refer to the wedding booklet for the remaining 3 songs. haha!

My wonderful relatives have also been giving me tips on how to ensure that I have a smooth and angelic voice on 8 November 2008 (*giggle*). Here are some of their tips:-

(a) "say no to eating chilli for a start"

(b) "say no to your masala spicy chicken, curry pork dhal, papadum...etc...etc.. hehehe..........oops, as well as baked otah with tahu and the full works.................."

(c) "if you can't resist eating Muar otar.......you can still indulge in eating them but remember to drink honey to cool down the heat"

post-script @ 11.57 pm

I have just reached home from choir practice. We have changed one of the songs because er... the choir members do not know how to sing the original song! As such, the final song list is as follows:-

(a) Shine Jesus Shine

(b) Loving and Forgiving (Psalm 103)

(c) Sing Alleluia to the Lord

(d) The Lord's Prayer

(e) Perhaps Love

(f) Ave Maria

SC's mother has suggested that we take a spoonful of "chuan pei pi pa gao" daily till "showtime" at the wedding.

On a lighter note, the 3 ladies of the choir have been contemplating going busking next week so that we can practise the 6 wedding songs at the same time. SC is not free on 3 November 2008 but SL and I have been toying with the idea of busking in Bedok on 3 November 2008. Very tempting... let's see how my schedule is on that day.