I’m not in Britain now, but I will be for BritDope. I live in Chicago. Now that would have been an odd coincidence indeed!
Bass-baritone/fake tenor/counter-tenor checking in. Can get from B-flat below the bass stave up for three octaves in natural voice, if you’re not over-fussy about the vowels sounds; best and most effective range is from low E-flat up to about G. Falsetto from somewhere near middle C up to about E-flat.
As another G&S singer of some years’ standing, I’ve had the happy experience of launching into When The Foeman Bears His Steel with half a dozen like-minded friends and have an unfulfilled ambition to do Tower Warders Under Orders the same way. But the Baal story sounds seriously cool.
Gyrate, that’s “big bass drum”. 
“bares” :smack:
Can I still join? Alto here. Usually sing second alto. Will do tenor in a pinch. Haven’t sung “properly” in years but I was in choir in HS and college. I still sing along (loudly) with the radio, and the cats like my singing.
And, for whatever it may be worth, I still know the entire (correct) alto part to the “Hallelujah” chorus. For the life of me, I can’t hear anything else when I listen to it.
Katisha sez:
Holy cow, I haven’t done Spam in Oleo in over fifteen years. I can sing the tenor and alto parts, though.
Gyrate, if you can find a drum, I’ll play it…
DogMom, SAT and Percussionist
No, no – it’s Spam in Olive Oil. Geez, some people…
**I’d be happy to chime in with any taran-taras as may be required inthe future. 
Or even “big-ass bass drum”. The last (actually, the only) time I did the Verdi Requiem, the bass drummer accidentally clocked one of the tenors in the front row on the backswing. I had enough sense to stand near the back; wild percussionists aside, you do not want the massed ranks of singers singing at the back of your head in that piece.
And it’s “Spam in Aluminum”. Or “aluminium”, for our UK brethren and sistren. But apart from the novelty value it’s not actually that interesting a work. Forty parts limits the harmonic interest quite a lot.
I’d bring my book of questionable catches to the next Londope, but I’m afraid Angua would stab me with her hair spike.
…Dooby doo…'tis a long prick…
Ooooh! Alto here! Can sing Second Sop in a pinch. Prefer Broadway show tunes but will be perfectly content with singing at all. 
There must be a curse associated with the Verdi Requiem; when we performed it, on opening night, one of the 1st sopranos had been sick with the flu, had a bit of a relapse, passed out, and fell and knocked herself out on the timpani. She had to be dragged offstage and back to her dorm by a couple of section-mates.
On the other hand, maybe it wasn’t a curse after all; the timpani player felt really badly about the whole thing and went to check on her at the dorm, and by the next rehearsal, they were dating.
Eva Luna, did you go to college in New Hampshire? One of my first chorister friends told me that very story. I’ve been cautious when singing on the edge of the bleachers every since.
Nope, this was Northwestern U. in Evanston, IL. And she was in the front row, standing directly on the stage rather than the bleachers. She just flat-out passed out and whacked her head on the timpani.
Eva Luna, yes it would have been a coincidence, but not too wild. AICSA is an association of university choirs, about 20 choirs are members and since they’re university based, there’s a high turnover as students graduate and move on (except us uni staff stick around), and they’re Australian, so heaps of ex-pats working in Britain - I know of about 20, doubtless there’s more. I even knew of one in Chicago for a while, but I’m not sure she’s there any more.
So, well, if you ever come to Australia, i think i know where you’ll fit in
Gyrate, I will shake it
Maybe it’s just Requiems in general. I myself have passed out at a concert, hitting the floor at the final cutoff of the last movement of the Durufle Requiem (impeccable timing as always). And yes, I was in the front row of the chorus. There was a stunned silence in the audience until the conductor pulled me to my feet again, and then they burst into applause. A dramatic moment.
cajela:
I think maybe there’s just a requirement for there to be a dead person for a requiem. Or maybe just the appearance of a dead person.
Guess I’ll check in and join up as a Baritone/Bass.
Don’t worry Scribble. I’ll sing with you once I get my butt out west(though I should probably get around to writing you back first)
I’m a Sop 2. If we’re going to sing Broadway showtunes or jazz or something with pep, could I please join the SDMB choir? I’m told I have a good alto voice, but my automatic tendency is to sing the melody bit. So that pretty much takes care of my career as an alto.
Also, I can’t read music for nuts, but I pick up tunes very, very fast! I swear I do!
Heh – what’s to learn in the alto part? It’s always:
G G G G G G G G G G G G G F# G
Ah, Gyrate, if only that were true…it’s far more challenging to sing harmony than melody, and I’ve done both. I have some Poulenc scores at home that would convince the most part-centric first soprano that alto parts can require great skill and finesse…
CAJELA –
Ceremony of Carols – High five! My choir’s doing 'em too! And by “my choir” I mean the Seattle Women’s Chorus. And you’ll be doing them in Canberra . . . I think that’s so cool.
GYRATE – Baritone in the BBC Symphony Chorus? How you doin’? My current aspiration is to audition for the Seattle Symphony Chorale, but the vox needs more work before I’ll take a shot at that.
What, no castrati?