TCATS #381 - Sometimes You DO Catch a Break

My wife has been working on a Master's degree and as her first class came to a close this past week, she had a final to take. This was, understandably, a big deal and the whole family prayed that good results would be the outcome. Part me was half-expecting it to not go well. Not because my wife hadn't studied hard (she had), or not because she hadn't put in the time to learn the material well (because she had), and not because she hadn't sacrificed family time and sleep (because she had). But because for some reason, God didn't want it to happen--He had some higher reason or lesson to teach that would only come from failure. In this instance however, after she had finished taking the test, she got the results about 1/2 hr later and was told that she had passed.

Woohoo!

I found myself thinking the same thing about another experience that happened this week. My daughter was hoping to get into a better on-campus dorm for her first semester this coming Fall. She was told that housin changes could be made at 9:00 AM this morning. So she and I both got on the computer and right at 9 we logged in successfully. As Lydia was looking for the hall and room she wanted, she was suddenly kicked out with the message that the server had reached capacity and to try again later. So close and so frustrating! We sat there and refreshed the page over and over again for about ten minutes and while I still had hope, a part of me thought that God's will in all of this could lead to an outcome we weren't hoping for. I started thinking about how to console my daughter and give her the all-too familiar "speech" about how God does things for various reasons and that this was meant to happen and that things would work out somehow. But in mid-thought, I refreshed the page and was suddenly let back in. Lydia found the room and clicked on Submit and then it was done. 

Double woohoo!

Now I realize that God's ways are often not our ways and His plan is perfect and all of the experiences we receive are ultimately for our good. Intellectually I know those things. But because I know them, I've come to expect that my will almost never equates to God's will and too often expect "the worst" (which, ironically, it actually "the best"). 

Anyway, the purpose of this post is not to delve into the mysteries of God's will. But rather to illustrate that sometimes things that you really, really want to have happen, actually do happen. Some times we actually do "catch a break" as they say.

Being in the Tabernacle Choir is demanding. And I've talked about most of those demands in this blog throughout the years. Mack and Ryan really don't waste even a second during rehearsals. Memorizing music is time consuming. Waking up early Sunday mornings is sometimes hard. Recording sessions are grueling. And sometimes for the basses, singing in-tune is nearly impossible to do. But every so often we catch a break. Mack or Ryan will let us out early. Or one week we won't have any music to memorize. Or the seating manager puts me right next to one of my best choir friends. Or I get to sing not three of my favorites pieces for the upcoming Music & Spoken Word, but all five! And in those rare moments, the basses might even hear the heavenly words "You sound good basses!"

God probably gives us a break much more than we realize or recognize. My hope is that we can have eyes to see them and be thankful for them. 

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #380 - All In

There were several times this week in which my kids engaged me in various conversations. Most of these happened later at night when the day was near done and I was really tired. For some of these conversations, I was able to pull myself out of my fatigue-induced cloudy indifference and be a true participant. For some though, the conversations were one-sided as I half listened and piped up only occasionally with a lame "uh-huh" or "yeah" or "oh, interesting". I always feel bad about those experiences because I feel like I failed at one of my primary responsibilities and opportunities--being "all in" when my kids are wanting to share and engage and truly be heard. 

Being all in is certainly not limited to parents listening to kids. It's an important concept for all of us to master, regardless of the activity we're engaged in. I suspect that each of us could identify at least one thing over the past month that we only gave a partial effort to. And while we are not perfect and certainly have limitations, being all in is a goal worthy of our striving efforts to obtain.

There is some very deep irony in the fact that months before the pandemic hit, I was not all in when it came to the Tabernacle Choir. I was taking it for granted, getting a little impatient with how rehearsals were going, and oft times looked at my watch more than once just eager for it to be over. 

Do you think I wish that I would have been all in for those months leading up to the Choir being shut down?

Absolutely.

This long pause, though, has brought a perspective change. And it's one that I'm determined to keep. While I can't promise that I'll be all in, all of the time, I'm going to do my best. Not just for me, but for the overall mission of the Choir. Don't you think that people watching or listening to the Choir will be more uplifted and encourage and inspired if the choir members themselves are all in? I sure think so. Working hard, memorizing the music, humbly rehearsing, showing enthusiasm, striving to be more like Christ, and feeling love towards our fellow brothers and sisters is what being "all in" looks like to me. And as soon as this pause is over, that's what I'm going to try and do.

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #379 - When it Rains, it Pours

There have been a lot of, shall we say, temporal challenges lately in the Pitt home. None of them have been huge challenges, but the compilation of small to medium ones starts to make them feel like something big. 

Here is a smattering of them...

*About six weeks ago, I was in such a hurry to back out of the garage that I actually backed right into the garage door as it hadn't retracted all the way up yet. A stupid but costly mistake, and one that resulted in the garage door panel taking six weeks to get replaced and installed. 

*Centerville has been one of the cities along the Wasatch Front that has suffered from several wind storms lately. One last Fall and then two in the past few months. We lucked out in that there was no severe damage to our home, but there were some shingles that blew off our roof and we just didn't get around to replacing them. Fast forward to this week when we had not only another windstorm but a lot of rain as well. The next day, my wife discovered water dripping off the chandelier in the master bedroom--and we realized too late that we should have had a repair guy come out long before.

*Our washing machine the past month or two has started to sound awful during the spin cycle. It's now to the point that every time we do a load, we fear that whatever is about to break will actually break--which makes washing more unenjoyable than it already is. 

*My daughter called the other day just as I was about to get on a conference call at work and said that our Mazda had a flat tire and she needed some help knowing what to do. I drove down in the other car and we worked together to get the spare on and get it over to the tire shop to get it repaired. I had anticipated this happening because when I had taken it in to get serviced a few months ago, they had found a staple in the tire (lodged tightly and not causing any harm--at the moment).

When I think about all of these things along with several others, one of the themes that becomes evident is procrastination. We're all guilty of this to one degree or another but each of these incidents cited above could have been avoided if I had done things a little sooner. If I hadn't procrastinated doing some things last-minute, I wouldn't have been in such a hurry to get out of the garage. If we had called a roofer guy months ago, we wouldn't have had incurred the water damage. If I had gotten the tire looked at earlier, a flat tire wouldn't have become a reality at (and at an inconvenient time). And let's just hope that it's not too late to call the appliance repair place so they can salvage our washer!

In choir, procrastination can lead to increased stress and embarrassment. Typically we're given weeks to memorize songs that will be on our broadcasts, or the concerts we perform, or on General Conference. It's very easy to put off memorizing, but if you put it off too long, you put yourself into a stressful situation the day or two before the performance. And worse yet, sometimes you discover that despite your best efforts, you just can't quite get the words of the songs into your head. So then you go into the performance feeling unprepared, relying way too much on the guys around you, and setting yourself up for a possible camera close-up right at the very time you fail to get the words right!

The scripture (D&C 38:30) about "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" is a very wise scripture to hearken to. It's my hope that we can all do a little better at avoiding procrastination so that we will be much less likely to say "when it rains, it pours."

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #378 - Bitter Sweet Symphony

I'm back. 

Thanks for the break. I needed to gather my thoughts and figure out what would be best to write about going forward--until such time as the Tabernacle Choir actually meets again. And then once we do meet again, I'll continue relaying personal thoughts, observations, and insights about my journey with the Choir.

For now, I thought I could just talk about lessons I learn every week from my every day life. And then comment on how those lessons can relate to my past experiences with the Choir.

So let's get started with lesson #1.

Recently I took a new position at my place of employment. It's been a rather big change because I'm doing something I've never really done before. Sure, there are skills I've learned in years past that are helping me make this transition, but overall, it's new and has been filled with levels of stress I haven't felt in quite some time. 

One of the aspects of this new job is being on-call 24/7 for one week out of every three. My first on-call week was last week and I was a bundle of nerves. Even though it doesn't happen that often, there's always a chance I'll get a text from a pager service and have 15 minutes to reply to it. After replying, I have to kick into high gear to understand the problem, find the right resources to address the problem, and assure the customer that appropriate attention is being given to resolve the problem. 

The first night of being on-call was a very sleep-LESS experience.  Although I had tested my phone twice to make sure my ringer was sufficiently loud enough to wake me up, I still kept waking up about every hour to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Subsequent nights got better and thankfully my mind is now learning to shut off at night even though it has to simultaneously anticipate being jump-started with a sudden page.

Amidst all of the stress and trying to acclimate to being on-call and efficiently responding to "normal" customer escalations throughout the day, I quite unexpectedly discovered a new perspective on the law of opposites. 

One scripture in the Doctrine & Covenants says "for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet." How true I found that to be! As I ended my on-call duties this past Tuesday and handed that particular responsibility over to the next guy, I suddenly treasured my nights so much more than I had before! Going places without my laptop, enjoying moments without listening to my phone, running errands knowing I wouldn't get interrupted, spending time with family... These were all sweet feelings and ones that I would have taken for granted had I not experienced the "bitter" on-call reality.

One way this bitter-sweet lesson relates to my choir experience is thinking about the occasional recording process we sometimes engage in. I've mentioned that process several times on my blog, but man! It's a grueling one. It can literally take up to 2+ hours just to get one song fully recorded. The start-stop-fix-start again process just isn't very fun. But after it's over, regular rehearsals are suddenly much more appreciated. And when the recordings are finally released on CD and Spotify and Apple Music, etc, the bitter recording experience suddenly becomes all worth it. 

While I hesitate to say "Go do something hard!", I can tell you that going through hard things does, at the very least, cause you to appreciate life in a whole new way once that hard thing has passed. And while I'm not yet at the point where I can thank God for the bitter things, I can thank Him for the sweetness that follows. 

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #377 - Temporary Break

I think I'm going to take a small break from blogging about the Tabernacle Choir. 

Just for a few weeks.

I need to work on receiving some inspiration on exactly what to write about. 

As the choir has been on its hiatus for the past year, I've written about how hard it's been personally, about speculation on when we'll go back, about the Choir organization's accomplishments without the actual members of the Choir, and even about blessings that have come while not being able to sing with the Choir.  And I haven't regretted any post that I've posted. That said, I've reached a place where I feel like rehashing or putting a new spin on any of those topics really isn't what I need to focus on or what you need to keep reading about.

So, out of the 10+ ways the Japanese people say goodbye to each other, I'll say to you "Ja, ne!"  (which means "See you later!")

Though actually, what I should really say is "Itte kimasu" (which literally means "I'll go and come back"). Because come back I will, very soon.

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #376 - Six Month Accomplishment Recap

Our weekly newsletter contained a rather nice summary of what the Choir organization has accomplished during the past six months and I thought I'd share that list with you. It's always a little strange reading through these accomplishments knowing that they all happened without any active participation of Choir members themselves. But it's great that the mission of the Choir continues to roll forth, and as mentioned many times before, we're excited to get back together at some point this year and make music again. The first Music & the Spoken Word when we return will be quite the broadcast and I know the "powers that be" are already working on making that a uniquely special event. 

At any rate, here's a fun list of accomplishments to look through. 

*The 110th anniversary of the first recording of the Choir (the second choir in the world and the first in the United States to be recorded at the time).
*The broadcast of Choir's 2019 Christmas concert (aired in December 2020 and was more well-received and viewed than ever before).
*The release of two new Christmas videos (“Baby of Bethlehem” and “The First Noel”).
*The creation and filming of a two-hour Christmas special to be broadcast on PBS and
BYUtv in December 2021.
*The announcement of the twice-postponed 2022 summer tour.
*A content refresh of the Choir's mobile app.
*The continued success of the Piping Up! organ recitals (now nearing 21⁄2 million
views).
*The restreaming of the Choir's 2018 Messiah performance (this coming weekend!).
*The completion of a translation project in which Music & the Spoken Word is now available in 12 languages and two accents (eight of those languages were made available in the past six months--Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian, Italian, German, Hungarian, Romanian).

Regarding The Messiah restreaming performance this weekend, if you're not up for watching the whole thing, you're invited to (re)watch the Virtual Hallelujah Chorus recording that was done a few years back. It's one of my favorite productions the Choir put together.

To end this post, each week I try to examine how I'm personally feeling about the Choir and this interim period when we're not participating. This week, I don't think I have too many feelings to share, but I will say that when I first read through this list of accomplishments, I had a mix of feeling grateful and feeling upset. That latter emotion just stems from pride and I tried to squalsh it as soon as I felt it. After all, I have every reason to be hopeful and optimistic and thankful. So that's what I'll focus on being.

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #375 - One Year

My family is a very music-oriented family and whenever we go on family trips we enjoy listening to a playlist that everyone has contributed to. Without fail, there are always a few songs that get added to the list that everyone sings along to (and not just sings, but belts!). One of those comes from a musical called RENT. I actually haven't seen the musical myself, but the song we all enjoy is called "Seasons of Love". The beginning lyrics go like this:

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure? Measure a year?
In daylights,
In sunsets,
In midnights,
In cups of coffee,
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in a life?

As today marks the one-year mark since the Tabernacle Choir last performed live, I think I could add a few customized lyrics to this song. When the song asks "How do measure? Measure a year?" my response would be

In songs not sung
In rehearsals not attended
In concerts not performed
In friendships unrenewed
In Sunday sleep-ins
In reclaimed Thursday nights
In increased family time
In General Conferences at home

In emotions
In questions
In longings
In speculation
In sadness, in tears, in hope, in faith.
In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year without choir?

As we begin week 53, we know that we will be the caboose on the "return to normal" train. But in the meantime, there are blessings to enjoy and spiritual musical experiences to anticipate. Lessons in patience are never wasted. 

As an aside, I went to the Tabernacle this past week with my friend Ben to return our suits that we used when doing the virtual recording. It was the first time I had been back in a very long time. Hallways were empty and people were scarce. But it was nice to be greeted by our wardrobe guy, Vance, and to visually see that everything was as we had left it. One day, all the people will be back and our musical journey will continue.

Until next time, God be with you.