The Songs and the Torches

Whew, finally time and energy to write in the blog!

Once again I'm participating in the holiday chorus at work. We've sung in both cafeterias and next week we'll sing at the conference center. We're singing songs in English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Hebrew, Yiddish, Ukrainian and Chinese. The Ukrainian is hard!! It's "Carol of the bells." Look at this video, not only to hear the song, but because the video is quite... entertaining. Luckily we all already know the tune because forget about the words. Most of the time I sort of fudge it. And I know I'm not the only one. Still sounds good though.

I'm trying out all sorts of different pieces with my voice teacher. She gave me a copy of "Ombra mai fu" in a higher key and we're working on that. We're also working on something called "The Green Dog," a very silly one, and a song cycle called, "I Hate Music." Not sure how I feel about that one yet. I think I prefer the older stuff.

In Mars news, Hurricane has been released. It's extremely controversial because it contains many scenes of sex and violence. And as I suspected, our marching scene didn't make it into the short version. Remember I said that we marched up stairs out of a sort of tunnel? I caught a screen shot of what they did end up using:

Just a few more seconds and you would see me. Of course, because of the content of the rest of the video it's not like I'd go around announcing, "Hey! Look at this video! I'm in it! No, not that scene. No, that's not me. Uh, no, not there..." If you do watch the video, let me warn you right now that it's not safe for work, kids, relatives or anyone else whom you wouldn't want to catch you watching it.

In other Mars news, I decided that I wanted to avoid waiting in the freezing cold all afternoon on the day of the concert in order to secure a spot up front, so I went ahead and purchased a "Golden Ticket," which is a VIP pass that includes a poster, a t-shirt, early entry to the venue and OH YEAH! A MEET AND GREET WITH THE BAND. And I will, of course, report that experience in full detail afterwards.

Radiating Joy!

I'm participating in the holiday chorus at work again this year. We had one of our cafeteria performances yesterday. It was fun. Once again, they took me and one other woman aside and quietly asked us to stand in front of the microphone. But that's not what I want to focus on.

I want to talk about the absolute joy that radiated from our director's face throughout the entire performance. She was dressed in black with red sparkles in her sweater. She has straight black hair and was wearing red lipstick. As she directed us she had this HUGE smile on her face. She looked just like a doll. She was in her element - directing music. And the quality of the singing didn't affect her... because trust me, while a few of us can sing, there are many who have a hard time singing on pitch or even at the correct time. But in spite of that, she radiated joy during the entire performance. It was awesome and contagious.

One odd thing that happened to me, and I seem to recall this happening last year too, is that I got a little light-headed, like I wasn't breathing enough or correctly. We have one more performance so I'll focus on correct breathing. Don't want to hyperventilate my way through the entire thing.

Strength

The rehearsals at work have begun for this year's annual holiday concert. We're doing most of the same songs as last year, which is good because I haven't been able to make all the rehearsals. But I finally made it to one today.

One of the songs we're doing is Mao Tsur, in 4 part harmony - soprano, alto, tenor and bass. (I can't find a version I like to link to, so if you don't know it, sorry.) So the director asks the group, "Who's singing soprano?" and every woman in the room raises their hand. So the woman who is also playing piano for us (and is probably one of the most talented musicians I know, more on that in a moment) says she'll do alto, and then they ask if I'll do alto because they need strong singers to carry the line. I almost looked behind me to see if they were talking to someone else. I did say I'll sing whatever part they need, but ... I don't feel like a strong singer. I'm a strong singer when I know the part. Usually. The alto part is not only very different from the melody, it's also all off, tempo-wise. I don't know the musical term but it sort of repeats the line after the melody - or in the middle - not exactly on the measure. Then it skips words to catch up. I wasn't feeling so strong about it... and we went over that alto line like 5 times and I still wasn't confident. The woman who plays piano said she couldn't sing and play at the same time. Correction - she said she couldn't sing that alto line and play the piece at the same time. I was surprised. She's that type of talented person who will look at a new piece of music and say, "Wait a sec... ok..." and then just play it. She can play anything on the piano. She has a beautiful singing voice. She probably plays other instruments too. She has two musically talented children. She studied music in school. Her family goes to music "camp" over the summer. So all I could think was, "I better make sure I'm standing near her when we sing this so I can follow along..." She's the strong singer who will be carrying the line ... not me. I will be the strong follower.

It was kind of fun to learn it though. I used to learn harmonies all the time. I'm out of practice. I'm really out of practice. And it's low. Is alto lower than mezzo even? Maybe. The low notes are low. When the notes went up on the staff it was like a drink of water - I felt relief, it was comfortable. So it's a challenge. I may not be the strong singer they think I am, but I guess I can give it a shot.

From Here to There!!

Back when I supered in Traviata, the local opera company hosted party here and there for the entire company. At one such party I met a guy with whom I hit it off immediately. No, not like that! He wasn't in the chorus for Trav b/c each chorus member was in two of the three summer productions and he was in the other two. But we chatted there and on FB and I am continually trying and failing to beat him at Scrabble.

Here's why he is an inspiration.

Most of the singers in the summer program are in their 20s. Some are in their very early 20s. He was in his 30s and was still in that type of program because he started studying voice within the past 10 years or so. Well... from there, that YAP chorus, he went on to the chorus at the Lyric opera of Chicago, and from there to many other prestigious opera companies around the country. And this week... he's in the chorus for La Fille du Regiment. At San Fransisco Opera. With Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau. I'm plotzing here. I'm thrilled for him!! He's worked his butt off to "catch up" and has landed himself parts in all these fabulous operas. He was in my local opera company's chorus 18 months ago and now he's SHARING THE STAGE with Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau. I don't even have the words to express how excited and thrilled I am for him. I can't wait to hear about when he's the lead tenor in some opera for which I can barely afford balcony seats. BRAVO, Mike!!!!!

The Chorus Line

I just read Susan Eichorn-Young's latest blog entry about how annoying it can be when people find out someone is a singer and ask them why they're not singing on Broadway or at the Met. It reminded me of a conversation I had a while back, which I wrote about here.

To recap, at a friend's art opening she for some reason was introducing me to everyone as an opera singer. I think it was because everyone had some sort of thing that they did, some sort of art, and she was showing me off as her opera singer friend, even though it wasn't true. I wasn't even studying voice yet at the time. So after explaining, again and again, what I did as a super, this one woman started in with these odd questions. Go ahead and read the post. It's short. I'll wait. You need to read only the first part of the post.

....

Ok, done?

....


People definitely have this odd attitude that the Met is the highest level of success. But how bizarre is it that the Met chorus was something that this woman looked down upon. To me, it's so high up that I get a neck strain thinking about it.

And this may sound odd, but, perhaps not everyone wants to be the star? It can be fun and fulfilling to be in the chorus. And hey, it's steady work. You get to be in almost everything the opera company does. You can live in one place, which seems like a big deal to me as a parent. It can't be easy to run off from your family several times a year for weeks or months at a time to perform somewhere away from home. It can't be fun living out of suitcases, in hotels, in other people's houses or apartments and so on. And for some people the chorus is where they're comfortable, where they're at their best. It's a skill to sing with others as a unit. You can't go off on your own ornamentation. You shouldn't sing louder than anyone else. I'm sure there's even more to it, but since the last time I was in any sort of chorus it was high school, I don't really know what else could be involved that makes the chorus for an opera different from singing solo.

That said, I'd love to be in any opera chorus. I have to keep working hard, and keep studying, so maybe by the time I retire I can audition. And the economy being what it is, I won't be retiring for quite some time.

High School Chorus

In high school chorus I sang Alto. There were sopranos, altos, tenors and bass. I think sometimes the sopranos were divided into soprano I and II. Most of the girls wanted to be soprano - there was some sort of status associated with it. I liked alto because it was like a puzzle to learn and sing the harmonies while the sopranos screeched behind me. The teacher would put the "weaker" altos in front of me and my friends so we could sing into their ears and therefore guide them. There were very few boys in chorus, no surprise, so for some songs she actually asked me to sing tenor. Tenor! I sang tenor for the Hallelujah Chorus. To this day it's the only part I know. My voice, no, my throat, would feel warm after singing that low.

My senior year I mustered the courage to try out for the special performing chorus. Well, that's not entirely true. One of my friends wanted to try out and she convinced me to try out too. The group was called "Somethin' Else." Pretty much all the boys who were in the regular chorus were in Somethin' Else, because only the boys who could sing joined chorus in the first place.

Since I was trying out sort of on a whim, I had nothing prepared and nothing rehearsed. Luckily, I had a friend who was an amazing piano player. He could sit down and play any song in any key. So we met for 5 minutes in a practice room and I asked him to play "When I'm 64." He played it in various keys until we found one I was comfortable singing in. We decided to skip certain parts of the song that were just too weird to sing solo. Then I went out and sang. I acted. I got totally into it. My friend went next. She sang that song from Ice Castles that everyone hated. Normally she had a very pretty voice, but I guess she was nervous. She slid into every single note. It was embarrassing. Ended up, I got in and she didn't. Awkward! Luckily for us the teacher knew what my friend could do, and when we went on our trip to Toronto, or Montreal, whereever it was we went, I asked the teacher to let my friend be an alternate in case someone couldn't sing.

The costume we wore was so 80s. Fishnet stockings, black trunks (think, bottom half of a leotard) sequined vest and a white bow tie. We should have been serving drinks in Vegas. Instead we were singing and dancing for the entire school and everyone's parents. We sang Dreamgirls, Long Train Running, Hernando's Hideaway, um... damn I can't remember what else at the moment! All alto for me. Then with the chorus we were given solos. My shining moment, of course, was when the entire chorus sang, "We are the World" and I got to sing Huey Lewis' part, "But if you just believe, there's no way we can fall..." and then "when we, come together as one." Alto part of course. I sang with some screechy soprano. We should have switched parts. So many of the kids were basically imitating the person who sang the part on the recording. I was determined not to, so I didn't.

I know there's a photo of us in my high school yearbook. I'll see if I can't take a picture of it and post it here.

Happy Holidays Etc

Today I got the DVD of my company chorus. Remember, I said that it was casual... I said that some people sang sort of monotone... Here's a clip. The microphone is not yet in front of me but you can hear me. I'm the one who didn't get the memo about wearing a red shirt but luckily opted for green.

Yeah. Without insulting my very friendly coworkers, I must say that I'd like to move up to something a little more professional sounding. But it was fun nonetheless.

I'm sad that the wild, "Move down! Just push her over and move to the mic!" pantomime wasn't caught on camera, but I do have before and after shots:

I'll no doubt be posting again later, like, after we light the menorah. Meanwhile, I urge everyone to do a search here on the blog for "caption contest" and then submit one for each entry that comes up.

A Crack-Tastic Day

Today we had another choral concert at work. For some reason I just wasn't finding my voice. I couldn't find the high notes and I was cracking on those in-between notes.

When we all filed in I ended up a little past the mic. "Good," I thought, "Just as well." The women on either side of me have very nice voices, so I figured it didn't matter. But then the woman who directs us kept motioning me to move over to be in front of the mic. When I say motioning I mean urging me with her hands and mouthing to me to move. Where? We were packed together and the woman next to me who was in front of the mic is bigger than I am - it's not like I could nudge her down! Plus she has a really nice voice! But the director woman kept pantomiming and mouthing so finally I just pantomimed that she should move the mic over. That felt weird because it's not like I wanted it there, but I really wanted her to stop playing charades. Then the woman on the other side of me asked me what that was all about, and I whispered that they wanted me in front of the mic and she was like, "Well." This woman has a little solo part in Silent Night so I backed up to clear the mic for her but she didn't move. When I told her later she said that she doesn't need a mic for the high notes, just the low ones. Ha! I'd rather NOT be amplified for the low ones, what with my voice taking on a life of its own and cracking when the notes entered That Funky Range. I held back the energy the way I practiced in my lesson and it seemed to help. But of course that mic was plonked down in front of me just before one of the crackiest songs in the set. I was ok, probably better than I think, but I bet the recording would have been fine where the mic originally was. Hmm I wonder if it picked up the monotone "alto" voice of the person behind me? Not that it matters - this is a really nice group, anyone can join and it's a lot of fun. They videotaped it too so hopefully I can get my paws on a copy.

The In-Between Times

I'm in between the chorus performance at work and my voice lesson. Yes, here I was yesterday thinking there was nothing to write about because I forgot all about today's performance.

It was fun. A bunch of us were in a conference room waiting for someone to come with a keyboard, I think, to warm up. I couldn't just sit there so I sort of started things going - had everyone stand up and stretch, showed some breathing techniques and gave suggestions on how not to shrug the shoulders up, as some people were doing. Then the keyboard came (I'm not sure but I think it was a toy) and we did some vocal warm-ups.

The performance was fun. I learned that I am not the only one who didn't know all the words, and in fact, I knew them a lot better than most of the people standing around me!

One thing I noticed - actually I couldn't NOT notice this - was that I was getting lightheaded. It's like all that deep belly breathing was similar to hyperventilating. What's up with that? In between songs, or when I didn't have to sing, I concentrated on normal breathing so I wouldn't pass out. I never felt faint, but the whirly-twilry head feeling was there. And of course, while I was singing and feeling this, I was wording a blog entry about it in another part of my brain. Multi-tasking! I'll ask my voice teacher about it tonight.

Uh Oh...

I've written before about the chorus thingee at work. We're performing a bunch of holiday themed songs in the two big cafeterias on campus. Last week we had to send our height to the person in charge so that she could set up how we're going to stand to perform. Yeah, I know. Front row. I'm 5 feet and 1/2 inches tall. I'm always in the front row. Anyway, today at rehearsal (our final rehearsal), the Woman In Charge pulled me off to the side and showed me the chart. "I wanted us to stand together," she said, "But I also want us to each be in front of a microphone, so I had to separate us." Okkkaaayyy, I thought, what? Stand together? This was the longest conversation I've ever had with her.

"Oh! Um... why?" I dumbly ask.

So she starts hedging. "Well, the mic pics up everything in front of it, every sound, any wrong notes...(she paused) OK, it's because I've heard you sing, and I want YOUR voice to be the one the mic pics up."

Wow!! I was surprised and flattered. That was seriously my first independent compliment. I mean, yeah, husband, friends and intoxicated people have told me I sound ok, but this was just out of the blue, from a sober person who doesn't know me. Of course I thanked her and all that. But wow.

So why the title of this post? Because... I'll admit it... for some of the songs... I just. don't. know. all. the. words.

We're singing songs in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Arabic, Hebrew, Yiddish and Chinese. And English. Come ON! No one remembers all the words. I mean, we do have the music and can follow along, but the words are so tiny and the verses are squished together on the page and some of the music is so fast that it's just impossible (for me) to sing them all. And they do record the performances and put them on a CD for us. So if I'm directly in front of this microphone that picks up the sound from directly in front of it... La la la blah blah blah won't cut it... I better go learn those lyrics... Oops.

Ok, here are the songs, in no order, linked to whatever video I could find:

Il est nee, le divin enfant
Fum Fum Fum
Gong Xi
Stille Nacht
Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (if you click just one, choose this.)
Oh Hanukkah Or try this cuz it's just so hokey. But we sing it in Yiddish. Oy.
... and many others. But you get the idea.

So THAT'S Where I Left My Saw

Show # 3 of 5 tonight. And... fabulous news!! NO SPILLS! Someone pointed out that if all the glasses were grouped together in a clump they'd support each other. So we did that, and lo and behold, the glasses survived all of our trips across the stage. If only we had known sooner! Physics strikes again, this time to our advantage.

The theater in which this performance takes place is piggy-backed onto another, larger theater. They have separate entrances but are attached via partially underground hallways. Partially, you say? How can that be? Well the older, larger theater is uphill from the newer, smaller one. So to enter the backstage area for the smaller one from outside you have to go down a short flight of stairs. Then as you wend your way through the halls and passageways you go up a few steps. From there you wiggle about a little, go through a room full of I don't know what, pipes and wires and planks and things, through a door, around a wrought-iron spiral staircase and into a hall where you can find doors leading directly to the sidewalk. The theater (the older one) is still a flight above. In those hallways you will also find a green room, some private dressing rooms and the chorus/super dressing room. The spiral staircase leads to the backstage area of the larger theater. I'm very glad I don't have to climb that staircase in my dress! It's hard enough going up the standard staircase to the theater we're in. I have to gather the thing up and I hold it in front of me in a ball. And forget about going to the bathroom. Actually I can't forget about that - I always need to go, usually the moment I get my costume on. But so far, so good. Meaning, I haven't dipped my dress in the toilet, always a good thing. So where was I? Oh yeah... today I noticed that in this vague room in between the hallways that connect the theaters, not only are there pipes and wires and planks and things, there is also a circular saw with a piece of wood on it and a pile of sawdust below it. Like, right next to where we have to walk. How odd, I thought, to be going back and forth from the green room to the stage past a large scary saw.

As I watch the chorus members get more and more tired from constant rehearsals, master classes, coachings and other performance-related projects, I realize that there is no way I could do what they're doing. I think I would drop from exhaustion. The fact that they don't drop, that they keep pressing on, to me shows that they're all very serious and dedicated about what they do.

Work, Quiche, Salsa, Song

I've had two additional rehearsals with the chorus at work. Last month we learned a song in French and had quiche. Today we did one in Spanish and had chips and salsa. For the Spanish song, there are two lines - what they're calling alto and soprano. The alto line carries the melody and the soprano line has harmonies and background. Alto... that's what I sang in my high school chorus, but there the sopranos always carried the melodies and the altos did the harmonies. Well I sang alto except for the Hallelujah chorus, when I sang tenor since there weren't enough boys in chorus. Isn't that nuts? I sang tenor? And now I'm a soprano! I can't even fathom singing that low now. So what is alto? Mezzo-soprano? Lower than that?

Great. Now that photo'll be all over the Internet.

No, Michael, not all over the Internet. Just on my blog.

"Random Chorus Member Number 12," as she prefers to be called, whose lap is under Michael's head, inspired the photo caption: (meaning, I took part of what she said and then made it my own.)

World-famous La Scala tenor Michael Fabiano with xxxx Opera Company,
where chorus members scramble for q-tips to dig chunks of wax out of his ears.

Truth is, when I showed him the picture and he said what has since become the title of the post, I couldn't tell if he was being snarky or jokey. I was sitting there on the steps eating my apple when he plunked his head down in her lap and said, "You smell good, like a girl," and she replied, "You have a big chunk of wax in your ear." And she really did dig the wax out, using the paper towel I had used to dry my apple. No, I didn't take the towel back. Ew.

Here are some more rehearsal pictures:





Look! Someone was recording the rehearsal! What is that machine? I want one!



Some sort of stomach bug is going around the cast and apparently the supers are not immune, so I'll have to write about the rehearsal in detail another time when I am in full health.

Also, I went to a live performance behind Panera last night, well half of one anyway, and I'll have my version of a full review up in a few days.

The Italian Lesson

"Piu staccatto!"

"Bravi! Bravi!"

"Crescendo!!!! Crescendo!!!!"

"Molto piano"

"Subito piano"

The maestro is so cool. He dances around waving his arms and shouting in Italian. I love it!

My rehearsal adventure starts, as always, with the parking. Today I found a spot on the street, hooray! Right next to some guy who was changing the tire on his car. I pop out of my car, "Hi, need any help? Uh, not that I could do much more than cheer you on. Hey, you're doing a GREAT job changing that tire!" He must've thought I was a freak. Then I put too much money in the meter. Parking is free after 7 and I got there 6:30. I swear I'm good at math... or at least I used to be... but I gave Parking Authority an extra 25 cents.

So I had 20 minutes to kill. I went to the music building and saw some of the chorus there. I said hello with a smile... nothing. Hmm. Not another repeat of last year! I went outside and sat next to Sean, said hello, he looked familiar, was he here last year... nope... but he was in Rigoletto. So we met. Then the meanie girl from last year came out. I said hello. She looked the other way. Very drama-llama dramatic. Okayyyy... I'll wait to see if she comes around. Then someone else came out and lo and behold she was... friendly!! Made me wonder, was she actually in the chorus, or just some random woman passing by? Seriously, so many of the chorus girls were so standoffish last year (and by standoffish, I mean, of course, well, this is a family show kids so I'll stick to standoffish) that I had a hard time processing the friendly interaction.

So once again the rehearsal started with the music, and I've summarized that above. The chorus sounds AMAZING. A MAZE ZING. Two of the leads weren't there so the covers sang the roles. Then we moved on to staging - another party scene. This time Ken and I carry a card table laden with drinks, cigars, cards and cash onto the stage. The we skedaddle out of the way so Kelly and Rachel can bring the chairs. Worked great without the chorus on stage... then the director had them come on, and part for us, but then they closed back in just as Ken and I were trying to exit and there was a lot of shuffling and bumping. I cannot count how many people I bumped into tonight. So anyway then Ken and I go back to the table and grab trays of drinks. The tray had I had had two gummy sticky things on it so I stuck two of the glasses there. Then we had to go right back onstage and serve the drinks. I just go into the crowd and people take a glass, so it's different every time. The last person to take a glass tugged on it and almost took the tray with her. She burst out laughing and I got the giggles. Well I had already had them from before, when I was trying to exit the stage and kept bumping into everyone. Then at one point we have to remove the table, and again *bump* *oops* *sorry* *snort* *don't laugh... don't laugh.... don't laugh...* Really this one guy just has to get out of the way, but each time he stepped to the side, I also stepped to the same side... Eventually we'll figure it out.

Then we had a break.

Overheard in the bathroom (translation: I was in the stall):

"Ohmigod! Look! Three blonds together"
"Well, I'm not as blond as you two."
"True, your hair tends toward red." Pause... "But it looks GREAT with your coloring."
(An aside here: They're all platinum blond. None of them tend toward red.)
Pause.
"Ooohhhh! Did you know we're going to be in a lesbian scene together?"
(I'm still in the stall wishing so much that I had my notebook to write this all down)
"Yeah, he told me to put my head in her lap and my face ends up in her crotch!"
(I flush and exit the stall as they're on their way out.)

So I decide to sit outside. I plunk myself down next to some of the chorus members and pull out my little container of fruit.

My nearest neighbor:

"Hey! You have blueberries! And grapes!"

Me:

"Wow, you're really good at identifying fruit! Would you like some?"

And so we got to chatting. She asked how I became a super so I told her I had a friend who had a picture of herself with Nathan Gunn, and I asked her how she met him. She told me she was a super in an opera he was in and I was like, "A super? What's that?" and the rest is history. Well as soon as I said I had a friend who met Nathan Gunn her eyes lit up and she was all "OMG!" so of course I whip out my iPhone to show her The Picture.

I told her the whole story, and that I know one of his students, and she said that someone in the chorus this year studies with him. She also asked if she can come the next time I meet him... I told her to get in line! I also told her that I study voice at the local Conservatory. Turns out she goes to college that the conservatory is associated with AND my voice teacher was a guest lecturer in her pedagogy class. She asked me what I was singing and so on. I was still amazed - a normal person in the chorus! I think last year's experience really jaded me. This year is already a lot more fun.

Anyway, break over, back in we go.

So we go over some more table-moving and drink-serving. Someone left a libretto nearby so I was reading along. There's one point where the chorus sings, "Alfredo, voi." Alfredo, it's you! and at that very moment Michael Fabiano, who is Alfredo in the production, opened the door and came in. It was hysterical - I don't know if he planned it since he could probably hear the chorus through the door.

Did I mention that the chorus sounded AMAZING??? And Michael is awesome. WHAT a FABULOUS voice.

The director was very pleased with everyone's performance and we got out an hour early.

I walked out with Ken and Rachel and we talked about how nice everyone is this year compared to last year.

Next rehearsal: Friday afternoon.

Work, Pizza, Song

Yesterday I learned that my company has a chorus that performs during the holidays. I joined, and today was the first rehearsal. There were maybe 20 people there. Denise, who I've mentioned in this blog before, is the musical director. Someone was playing an electric piano. Denise had us warm up with scales and other little vocalises, all the while shouting out little tips - "Deep breaths!" "Yawn!" "Relax your jaw!" and so on. Then we just jumped right in and sang Pastorale, "Tu scendi dalle stelle," an Italian Christmas song.

We met in a conference room. Think of your typical office conference room, that's where we were. The chair I was in was too low - it was like I was sitting on the floor! So my feet actually touched the ground, but it made my knees come up too high. You may be thinking, so what? But you must understand that this is very unusual for me as I am a mere 60 inches tall. Ok, 60 and 1/2. But still... so what this is leading to is, I ended up standing up near the wall because I could not produce the tone I wanted while sitting in that bizarre position. Stan, who I've also mentioned as he was one of our Romeo party, seemed annoyed by this. He said, "Just press your hands to the floor." Hmm has he been reading my blog? Anyway, I stayed standing and no one else noticed or cared.

And because the song was in Italian, we had pizza for lunch.