TCATS #455 - Tour, Easter, Elijah, & Collin

I wanted to take a few minutes and update y'all on a few things.

TOUR

First, the roster for who's been selected to participate in the Mexico City, Mexico tour in June, was posted on Friday. I was rather surprised to see that almost everyone who signed up to go, is going! About 315 of us. And the standby list is only 14 people long. So why is this so surprising you may ask? Well, for tours in the past, the number of choir members going has been quite a bit less. I've been told one of the reasons for this is because there's often a logistical problem of trying to fit so many people onto a typical stage (at a typical performance venue). Also, for tours in the past, the standby list has been pages long. I'm thinking that maybe more people have wanted to come on this tour because it's shorter and overall more do-able for many who don't want to use a lot of their vacation time. Perhaps another reason more are being allowed to go is because now that they aren't taking any spouses--which has caused the overall number they're taking to actually be LESS than what it was before. Roommate selections, itineraries, getting passport info and physician sign-off info finalized, etc. will all be a part of the next month or two.

EASTER CONCERT

We found out on Thursday that the Easter Concert for this year has been canceled. I'm personally glad they did that because it was just going to be too much. We've had all of these extra rehearsals to learn ELIJAH and after performing ELIJAH we'd launch right into all of the Easter Concert extra rehearsals, intermingled with General Conference rehearsals. Anyway, the Easter Concert is being replaced by what they're calling "Music & the Spoken Word PLUS". As for what the "plus" means, we haven't been told. But if I had to guess, it would either include some unique music elements or it would just be an extended performance (maybe 45-60 min, rather than the traditional 30). Or maybe both!

ELIJAH

I've mentioned this several times before, but rehearsing ELIJAH has been so difficult for me. My wife helped me realize that maybe all of these lyrics that talk of a very vengeful and wrathful God who loves to punish and destroy are triggering me into confronting into some of the ways I used to view God in my own life. Ways that included Him punishing me for who I am, being disappointed in me for not measuring up, and not caring to compassionately intervene when I feel like I needed Him the most.. On top of that, I just struggle when God is portrayed in those ways. Such a god cannot be the God I worship. At any rate, I almost broke out in tears during rehearsal as it was just too much to handle. Not sure how I'm going to get through the next few weeks.

COLLIN

Today we gave a standing ovation to Collin Jefferies who has served on the stage crew for many, many years and is finally ending his service. What makes Collin so special in my mind is that he falls into a select category of people who, despite their limitations or disabilities, goes forth in faith and serves and makes a difference. Collin can't use too much of his right hand, AND YET he's just as valuable as the rest of the crew that does all of the various manual labor tasks (setting up chairs, tables, stands, microphones, etc. etc). It's been a weekly inspiration to watch him and he will be missed. 

Make it a good week everyone!

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #454 - Pressing On & Moments of Grace

Last week I was attending a mission farewell meeting for my sweet nephew Jack--and therefore didn't attend Choir. I was glad to be back this week though and the line-up for Music & the Spoken Word today was quite a good one. 

If you're a fairly avid fan of the Choir, you have heard by now Rick Elliott's arrangement of "Let Us All Press On". (HERE) It's by far the best arrangement of this hymn that I've ever heard and pushes all the right buttons. And it was a song I just needed to be able to sing today. Things have been hard lately, personally, and sometimes I feel like my spiritual "well" needs a good filling up! The lyric that spoke to me today from that song was "In the days of trial His Saints He will cheer". I've been learning lately that even though each of us might be in the thick of hard things, there are always good/positive moments to hold onto and that bring what might equate to "cheer". It's like God is saying, "I want to cheer you up as you're going through these hard things, so here's a good moment to hold onto, even if that moment is brief. It's a testament that I love you." As I thought about all of that, I couldn't quite hold back the tears during the rehearsal and the performance.

I asked Wes, who was singing next to me, what his favorite lyric from that song is, and he said "An unseen power will aid me and you." I think that fits in nicely with mine. We can't see God or Christ or the Holy Ghost. But they are there. And are often aiding us by giving us these small moments of grace to cheer us up.  

I hope that as you go through your week this week, you'll be able to spot those moments of grace that are designed to keep you feeling God's love as you work through the hard.

In other news, the various section leaders got released this past week and new ones put in their place. What does a section leader do, you ask? Well, they make sure attendance is reported properly and are go-to people for questions/concerns/problems that the members of their section might have and need to share. Anyway, the Bass 2 sections leaders are now my good friends Ben and Siope. And with Siope now having a new calling, I'll need to offer some suggestions to the librarians as to who they can call to help me now in the library. Watch out basses......you might be tagged! 

I think that's about it. Other quick tidbits: rehearsals for ELIJAH continue, though I can't say I'm any more excited to perform it than I was just a week ago. Several choir members feel the same way though there are those who really love it. On the Mexico tour front, we were told in Friday's newsletter that the choir leaders hope to have a final list of those who will be invited to participate, by end of month. 

And that, is a wrap.

Until next time, God be with you. 

TCATS #453 - A Look Back, A Look Forward

Hello, hello my friends! And welcome to 2023. Members of the Tabernacle Choir had a nice long two-week break but met again for the first time this past Thursday for the first rehearsal of the year. Some of us actually met on Tuesday as that was the first day of Choir School for all of the individuals who just barely (and successfully) went through the audition process. Those joining them were the new folks from 2022. (As mentioned before, if you make it into the Choir, you not only have Chorale rehearsal for your first year, but you have it for the year after, too.) So it's been a busy start to the year for the "second-years" in particular.

Before jumping into how things have gone for 2023 thus far, I did want to include in this post the famous year-end pictogram. Each year, Choir member and friend Siope Kinikini puts together a very cool pictogram that includes all of the highlights of the year. So without anymore introduction, here it is! (zoom in by clicking on it)

As for 2023, there's not too much to report, yet. Rehearsal on Thursday went just fine and it was great to see the new people wandering the halls looking all excited to be there. I wasn't a big fan of hearing the infamous "You'll be disappointed if..." speech (refer HERE for more details) as I don't understand why we need to hear it every year. Plus, there were some quotes added to the speech that I wasn't a fan of, either. But aside from that, the rehearsal was good and the first broadcast of the year today went well too. My favorite song from today was the Alleluia piece. Every time I sing that one, I feel like a warm, majestic blanket of peace has wrapped around me. 

As for the months ahead, what do you have to look forward to? 

February: ELIJAH Concert w/ the Utah Symphony
March: Easter Concert
April: General Conference
April: Retirements
June: Mexico City tour (for any of you who will be in Mexico)
July: Summer Concert
October: General Conference
December: Christmas Concert

Additionally, sometime during 1Q, Music & the Spoken Word will begin to be available in Spanish, with a Portuguese version to follow.

I think my personal goal this year is to extend more grace to the Choir leadership. Like other individuals in  leadership positions within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they are prone to make mistakes and, at times, be less sensitive and inclusive as I feel like they should be. But no one is perfect and I'd like to think they do the best they can. So I need to keep that all in mind as things come up and I'm prone to shake my head and wonder why.

Thanks for your continued support of this blog and for your interest and support of the Tabernacle Choir. I'm looking forward to more blog entries as I journey behind the notes.

Until next time, God be with you.