Well, we've been working very hard as of late for a particular payoff moment and that moment came on Saturday night, March 7th. The Western Region of the American Choral Directors Association held their conference in Salt Lake City this year and the ending capstone event was a concert that featured the choir, the orchestra, the bells, AND the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble. Preparation for this concert demanded different amounts of time and effort from each individual involved. And, as is usually the case, the longer a choir member had been in the choir, the less outside-of-choir time that person had to spend. Prayers were definitely said for the ultra newbies who needed to spend the most time, and comments to the choir's private FB group by these newbies testified of their stress levels. It's one thing to learn the notes to over 15 pieces of music, but it's another to learn all of the words (the concert was completely memorized).
At any rate, all of the preparation certainly paid off! The concert was a huge success and performing in it helped bring back some of the joy and excitement that I've been struggling to find in choir as of late. One of the unique things about this concert, for me, was that I really enjoyed every single song we sang (usually there are at least 2-3 that I don't really care for too much). Another cool thing was that my good friend Ryan, who's retiring from the choir in April (he's reached his 20 years), had one of the best concert experiences he's ever had and I was so grateful to hear that because one day, when I'm on my way out, I would hope that such an experience happens to me. The audience loved it too and, in fact, couldn't stop clapping at the end. Unfortunately, we didn't have any sort of encore number to sing to them. But finally after what seemed like at least five minutes of clapping, the audience recognized we accepted their generous show of appreciation and then started departing.On the way back to the locker room to get changed, everyone was making post-concert comments and observations which is always a fun experience to be a part of because you get to hear how various songs impacted this person, and how other songs impacted others. You also hear insights gained, spiritual experiences had, and even admissions of a slight mess-up here and there.
Good times.
With ACDA done with, we continue our preparation of Messiah pieces, as well as songs for the upcoming General Conference in April. Always so much to do. And we get tired.
Speaking of getting tired, today's Music & the Spoken Word broadcast probably featured several of us looking like we had just experienced a long week of rehearsals and a concert, PLUS losing an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time! That said, the broadcast went well and I even got to sit next to one of my favorite friends in the choir :).
Until next time, God be with you.
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