It is with some degree of parental pride that I find myself having a small moan about the cost of having musical offspring.
I don't have to attend all their events, but I like to go to the ones that I can and therein lies the dichotomy.
Because as the concert agenda accelerandos, in direct contrast my bank balance suffers some serious dimenuendo (and yes the use of semi musical terms is intentional).
There are seven of us heading to The Pearlfishers soon to hear my second son do his chorus role with Opera Queensland. My husband puts on his white scarf and usually takes his opera binoculars, as befits the opera buff that he is.
Of course, his status as the man who reads the Kobbe’s Opera Book before he goes would be seriously downgraded were anyone to notice our seating arrangements. For this opera, we picked the cheapest seats, happy to sit in nose bleed territory on balcony two of the Lyric Theatre and get a bird’s eye view.
Having bought our share of seats, the son we will be craning our necks to see lets us know that all cast members have the opportunity of being issued with two tickets each and would we like them?
Had this not followed an earlier ticketing disappointment, I wouldn't be writing this column.
But son number three is also performing at QPAC as a member of the Ten Tenors in August and we had also purchased tickets for the same. My husband had received the offer of a special ticket price before Mother’s Day via email and hurried to the computer on deadline day. He logged in to book at 9.30am, only to find that the offer had expired only 30 minutes earlier.
Oh well, instead he booked tickets to my show - an Abba extravaganza with the QPAC choir in the concert hall. II hadn’t realised the impact of potentially seeing a choir of about 100 people in lycra (If this is what he expects, he will be disappointed, but less disappointed than if we actually wore it).
I like to think his own participation as a member of the German Club choir has sparked an interest in all things choral.
QPAC has become something of a second home, as both audience member and performer. The cost may be a few dollars, but the pleasure derived by being a part of it all cannot be measured in any tangible way. It swells my heart and I can't wait to enjoy the singing in all its forms, lycra or not.