Dramatis persona*

helenhead Helen Chick

I've always wanted a bumper sticker that said "I'm a female, LDS/Mormon, Scout leading, geocaching, piano-playing, bicycling, mathematics educator with a PhD in maths ... and I VOTE"!

I think this makes me a minority group of cardinality 1!

* Since there's only one of me and "personae" is plural (I think), I've gone with dramatis persona.
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The “Sunrise Project” goes interstellar

Well, maybe not … but today’s exotic location for the TSOChorus’s outdoor film shoot for our “Sunrise Project” was the University of Tasmania’s radio telescope in the late afternoon, rather than sunrise. The telescope provided quite a dramatic backdrop and was listening for pulsars rather than listening to us as we sang several repeats of the […]

The “Sunrise Project” at sunrise

I’ve posted earlier about the TSOChorus’s “Sunrise Project” where we are filming ourselves in various locations performing a song (we have already recorded ourselves doing the audio). One chilly mid-week morning—with winter giving the advantage of late-occurring sunrises—we headed down to Calvert’s Beach and sang on the beach first and then up against the cliffs at […]

How can I keep from singing?

During the restrictions of COVID-19 we have been having our TSOChorus rehearsals via Zoom, which has at least allowed us to keep working together as a group even though it is less than ideal for group musical activity. However, with Tasmania having closed its borders and dealt with outbreaks, we have been able to get together […]

Singing at sea

With restrictions on the size of gatherings easing, but with awareness that choirs might be at higher risk of spreading the coronavirus amongst their singers, the TSOChorus has been continuing online rehearsals, but also starting to have some small outdoor gatherings of people, in spaces big enough to keep a reasonable distance between choristers. As yet, […]

12 of 12, March 2020

This is a 12 of 12 in two parts: the first from my class for future maths teachers this morning, and the second from tonight’s TSO Chorus rehearsal.

So, to my class. One focus for this semester’s unit is to look at different types of activity that get school maths students reasoning about conceptual ideas, instead of […]

Shooting the band

Imogen’s band “The Method” has been getting the occasional gig, and, in addition to broadening my musical horizons, this gives me the chance to gain experience as a rock photographer! (I suspect the band has more chance of a career than the photographer!)

] […]

The day after Verdi’s “Requiem”

The reason I had to haste away after the Verdi Requiem was to get back to Tasmania in time to attend Imogen and Josh’s end of year guitar concert. This annual event is organised by their guitar teacher, and features his students performing some of the material they have been working on during the year.

Imogen performed one of […]

Verdi’s “Requiem”

So, while our day-times in Perth were filled with R&R, our evenings were taken up with rehearsals and then our two performances. After an initial get together with the WASO Chorus in another venue, we had our first conductor call on Tuesday night. Here we figured out where the 150 or so of us were going […]

On tour in Perth

Singing with the TSO Chorus is providing some wonderful opportunities to do interesting choral works … and not just within Tasmania. Earlier in the year some of the choir members went to Berlin (but not me, because of lots of reasons); and in November a big group of about 50 of us made the journey across […]

Seven bars of Wagner

In one of the more unusual performances I’ve ever done, the tenors and basses of the TSO Chorus rehearsed furiously to learn our words and music by heart. We also received a health and safety briefing that took several times longer than our actual performance. All of this was done in order that we could sing […]