5 times is bad times

Call me old-fashioned, but what’s wrong with a nice stable 4/4? We all know where we are with that. If the time signature just stays the same, we can get on and sort out the melody and the harmony without concentrating reeeeeely hard and having to count quavers on our fingers. And seriously, what is it about the word “hosanna” that makes 20th century composers break out in 5-time?? What’s wrong with them? I remember when hosanna was a nice 6/8 word, in my primary school days. Does that really need tinkering with?? It shouldn’t be allowed. And especially, ESPECIALLY, composers should be banned from throwing in the occasional 6-time bar just when we’ve got our heads round counting in 5s! That’s just cruel.

The Leighton is mainly the piece causing this angst, although that doesn’t get Martin off the hook. The rhythm is the only tricky thing now because we’ve sorted the complicated, dissonant harmonies. In fact we’re attacking the discordant clashes with some relish, and I’m even confident that those discordant clashes are AS WRITTEN in the score, something I haven’t always been able to say in my choral career. So all was going well with the Leighton at this week’s rehearsal, and I was particularly psyched to get picked for the semi-chorus singing the beginning of the Sanctus, which I was banging on about last week as the loveliest part of the piece. But then the word “hosanna” approaches, and Kenneth gets his 5/4 hat on. Suddenly the entire choir were all over the place. 5-time is HARD. “Do you want only the semi-chorus to sing this bit too?” the soprano sitting behind me asked David-the-conductor hopefully. I glowered at her as befits such a blatant escape attempt, but she just looked back at me like butter wouldn’t melt. In this situation we did what any choir would do, and resorted to epic Hollywood. “Use the force!” cried David, Yoda-like at his music stand. We felt for the notes with our minds, and, incredibly, the force was with us. Now we just need to retain the force until the concert on Saturday. I’m maintaining it through meditation and some mild ewok-baiting.