MTC #172 - Christ and You

Happy Easter! 

For the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, this past week was akin to Christmas Concert week as we met every evening (minus Monday) to rehearse or perform. It also happened to be a very busy and emotional week at my day job, and the busiest week my wife has ever had. So, you can imagine how glad we were to finally celebrate Easter today, having survived our various taxing responsibilities. As always, I do want to thank my wife and kids for helping all of the complicated moving parts on the homefront to fit together during my absence. It's no small task. I'm so grateful for them. 

Along with regular Thursday rehearsals, the Choir had 10 extra rehearsals (16+ hours) to prepare for the Easter Concert that we performed this past Friday and Saturday night. The Concert consisted of two Easter-themed works: "Christ on the Mount of Olives" by Beethoven; and the world debut of "A Cloud of Witnesses" by Mack Wilberg (w/Lyrics by David Warner). Beethoven's work included several soloists, all of whom did a fantastic job. I was particularly

impressed with the soprano (Celena Shafer) who seemed to be performing with everything she had, emotionally, physically, and mentally. (I might be slightly partial, too, since she's a fellow Viewmont High School alum) While some of the solo numbers seems to be a little lengthy for my taste, there were two things I enjoyed most about performing this. First, the basses, in particular, were given the opportunity to play the part of the soldiers--who, of course, were upset at Christ claiming to be the King, when it was Ceasar who

was rightfully king. At one part, as we (the soldiers) are proclaiming this, our director Mack said to go ahead and just "let loose"--giving our singing all of the emotion and anger and roughness we could muster! "Behold Him, the deceiver! Who dares to say that He, is King instead of Ceasar. Then seize and bind him fast." It was a weird sensation playing the part of the soldiers, representing all of those who were against Christ. It caused me to feel, in some small degree, the prevailing anger that the apostles and followers of Christ, felt, at that time, from those who were determined to crucify the Savior. Second, I loved ending with the piece "Hallelujah!" It was a very powerful contrast in emotions--going from singing the words of the soldiers, to proclaiming the light and glory of Christ.

Regarding "A Cloud of Witnesses", singing this was a very different experience. It was not your typical composition with recurring melodies and standard phrasing. Instead, we all played the parts of those who were involved in the post-crucifixion events: Christ, the apostles, the angels, and the women. Our task was telling the story and often the notes we sang were repetitive and/or didn't have a lot of range. Kind of like we were speaking, but still singing. If that makes any sense. It's hard to describe. And while it took me awhile to really like how different it was, I did end up liking it very much. Perhaps, in part, because it was different and also, because I felt it was effective at conveying not only the story line, but what the individuals and groups of people were feeling. Overall, I was just happy for Mack Wilberg--that he was able to put together such an amazing musical work of art. I can't even imagine writing the score for just one of the musical instruments, let alone all of them! Not to mention all of the choir parts. David Warner, who provided all of the lyrics, visited during one of our pre-concert warm-ups and just said how grateful he was that we were able to perform this. The one thing I most remember him saying is that unlike most songs that have melodies that carry it along and which the audience can identify with, "A Cloud of Witnesses" requires the singers and orchestra members to not only spiritually and emotionally connect with it, but requires them to be living Christ-like lives in order for that connection with the audience to occur and be effective.

Anyway, it was a great concert and once again, I feel so blessed that for almost all of the significant holidays during the year, I get to experience them by not only singing about them, but being immersed in them in a way that only the medium of music can provide.

Today's Music & the Spoken Word was packed with individuals and families who wanted to start off their Easter morning with the sounds of the Choir, the Orchestra, and the Bells on Temple Square. There were more people at our broadcast this morning than there were at our concert last evening. My favorite of all the songs we sang was the first one "Christ the Lord Has Risen Today." It setup the rest of the Easter-themed program perfectly. Of course ending with Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus was just icing on the cake.

Lastly, though it wasn't connected with the concerts this week, I had the opportunity to watch a performance of "Savior of the World" put on my one of my neighboring congregations. Though it was all fantastic, at the end, as everyone came on to sing the final number, my focus rested on a young man who had clearly been impacted by the experience he had just been a part of.  His mouth started quivering as he kept trying to sing, but he was so overcome that he just couldn't hold back his "tears of testimony".  As I sat there watching the tender scene, I thought  "You know what Ryan? This is what it's all about. It's feeling the love of our Savior, personally, and having that impact your life in all you do. It's about Christ and YOU. It's realizing that while the Atonement and the Resurrection are for everyone, there's a "you" included in that everyone."

Until next time, God be with you.