Back in the High Life

Damage to the lungs from pneumonia can take a while to heal.

Photo Source: eCureMe.com

We’ll be back in the high life again

All the doors I closed one time will open up again

Well be back in the high life again

All the eyes that watched us once will smile and take us in

—[Steve Winwood]

I went to choir practice tonight for the first time since I got sick. I haven’t had much in the way of wind, and my pitch has been flaky at best. But I was bound and determined to sing tonight.

All went pretty well. We quickly went through “The Tramp on the Street,” an old folky based on the Bible story of Lazarus (or Laz’rus, as it is spelled in the libretto. It is a fairly easy three chord song to sing, and we breezed through it.

Then we picked up the other song for Sunday—“Poor Man Lazrus.” This one tells the story of &rldquo;Lazrus” and Divies, the rich man tormented in hell while Lazarus reveled in heaven. This is a fairly difficult song to sight read, especially when you are a bad at reading music as I am. And I was the only tenor! The director had a high school alto sing with me. I was grateful for the support. I would never have picked out the part without her help. Unfortunately, we went over it again and again and again—until my lungs gave out.

I got to where I couldn’t breathe any more. My top part of my lungs were on fire. I had to bolt outside into the cold raid to have a coughing fit. I stayed there for a while, letting the cold, damp air soothe my inflamed lungs.

When I went back inside, what little pitch I had left me. All night long I had been fighting a weirdness in my vocal cords. Notes that should have felt high didn’t, but lower notes did. I couldn’t sing the lovely Mendelssohn piece we are doing later this year. (Why are classical pieces so much easier to sing than “popular” ones?)