#and the whole thing is sort of run by my aunt (a professional piano accompanist) and her husband (a professional singer and piano player)

[victory-cookies]

for the first year ever— my aunt played the 12 days of Christmas in a lower key at our annual carol sing, meaning that I (the lone person singing “five golden rings” bc I’m the only fucking may baby and that’s how we organize the verses at this thing) didn’t have to choose between “embarrassingly low so that you’re bottoming out your vocal range and can’t be heard” and “full falsetto that will inventively end up sharp, flat, or both”. Bc that’s been my reality for like 15 fucking years at this point and it sucks every time bc I get a big spotlight on me and have to decide if I should sing low and quiet or high and pitchy. It’s hell. She realized by the tenth day this year that something must change and started playing in a lower key for the rest of the song. It was still bad but. Not as bad

#For context: every year my grandparents host a huge carol sing where all their family and friends gather to. well. sing Christmas carols #and the whole thing is sort of run by my aunt (a professional piano accompanist) and her husband (a professional singer and piano player) #so she will play all the music for the songs and the music book she uses has always been comedically bad for altos #like. to the point where the choir ladies who bring their little books that detail the harmonies in them complain about it every year #and as an alto myself I’m always stuck between singing a bit too high or a bit too low #and she has gradually be shifting stuff down but up until this year hadn’t done the 12 days of Christmas #and that’s the big finisher for us. everyone sings the number that corresponds with their birth month— it’s a whole thing #and every year I sing alone (or maybe. MAYBE with one other person if I’m lucky) and it always sucks bc I’m forced to sound really stupid #bc my range is shit and neither octave choice sounds good. #but at least this year it ended up sounding a little bit better. not by much but. it was appreciated