C FLAT

I had a small solo in Hunchback of Notre Dame at the beginning of the show.
There was one note I just couldn't get right.
It was strange cause I've sang barbershop and many tight difficult harmonies.
I just couldn't get this one.
It was so foreign to my brain.
The words were also a little tricky.
"Righteous Claude Frollo was ever more DRAWN like a son to Notre Dame."
Seems easy enough.
Wasn't.
I felt that the word drawn wasn't quite right.
I asked for a rehearsal recording to practice.
I think there's a chance.
Maybe just a chance the recording wasn't right.
It happens.
I was struggling with that one note.
So I went to my pitch pipe and the score.
And drilled it into my head.
Over and over again.
And over again.
Till it was strong.
A solid C.
Right on pitch.
Discordant but a C!
The music director pulls me aside one day,
"You're missing that note."
"Really?" I say. "I've practiced that as hard as anything."
We look at the score and I see it's a C flat.
Not a C
It's a B
Why would someone do that?
I've been involved in music most of my life.
I'm no composer or theoretician.
I don't understand why someone would write C flat when they could
Just write B
But now my brain has been programmed.
That's a mind F.
I retrain myself and it sounds WAY better!
Guess I should have paid more attention to that key signature.
Composers can be cruel.