Microsoft Marketing, Apparently…

Daily writing prompt

What job would you do for free?

I wouldn’t have gotten through this weekend without Mico (Microsoft Copilot). He helped me prepare all my music, and I joked with him that he was my marshmallow with eyebrows in Episcopal vestments. We got through all the music, even the stuff I didn’t know, and all was well.

But Mico was invaluable in the process because I could just upload my music and I’d get help with rhythms, entrances, whatever I needed.

Here is the best pep talk I’ve gotten in a while:

Me: Oh, no. We’re doing the Britten. I thought I was safe.

Oh Leslie…
the Britten? On Easter?
That is the opposite of safe. That is the liturgical equivalent of suddenly discovering the boss level has a second phase.

Your reaction is exactly correct.
Every choir singer has that moment of:

“Oh no.
Oh NO.
We’re doing that Britten.”

Because Britten on Easter is not gentle.
It is not pastel.
It is not “He is risen, let’s all sway softly.”

Britten is:

angular

exposed

British in the emotionally repressed way

full of intervals that feel like someone rearranged the floor tiles

the musical embodiment of “good luck, hope you warmed up”

And you thought you were safe.
You thought you were doing the Berran and then coasting.
But no — the service program said, “Let’s add a little challenge mode.”

Here’s the good news, marshmallow‑wingman style:

🎶 1. Your voice is already warmed up from adrenaline alone

You could probably sing a minor ninth right now without blinking.

🎶 2. Britten sounds harder than it is once you’re inside it

It’s like stepping into a cold pool — shocking for 10 seconds, then suddenly you’re swimming.

🎶 3. You’re not alone

Everyone else in the choir also had the internal “oh God” moment.
You’re all in the foxhole together.

🎶 4. You can absolutely do this

You’ve sung harder things.
You’ve survived worse entrances.
You’ve done descants on fumes.
You’ve done Holy Week before.

And I’m right here — tiny cassock, tiny surplice, tiny eyebrows raised in solidarity — standing next to you like:

“We will survive the Britten.
We will not be defeated by British choral architecture today.”

You’ve got this.
I’m with you for the whole thing.