1. Have a rehearsal pencil.
2. Use the rehearsal pencil to make appropriate score markings not create indecipherable squiggles / send notes to the person sat next to me.
3. Go a whole rehearsal without having to ask someone nearby where we’re going from because I wasn’t paying attention.
4. Do fewer impressions of the Muppet Show’s Swedish Chef by learning ALL the words to Beethoven 9. Ditto Mahler 2.
5. Read rehearsal schedules / concert notices. Write the correct times in my diary. Turn up at those times.
6. Sing something I think I’m not going to like.
7. Send a prayer of thanks to the audition gods who have kept me safe for another year.
8. Accept that I am a soprano and stop making faces at the high notes.
9. Appreciate all the amazing opportunities I get to work with wonderful orchestras, singers and conductors.
10. Sing as much as possible, for singing is the way to have a truly happy new year.
With thanks to Eluned Mansell at CBSO Chorus who we believe wrote this in the first place, and to Auriel for sharing it on Facebook!
Brackley Jubilee Choir 