As the Choir and Orchestra ended their two-week break and reconvened this past Thursday to make beautiful music, they were joined by 35 new soon-to-be Choir members. These new members will spend four months in Choir School (and the Chorale) preparing to become full-fledged members of the Tabernacle Choir. They were distinguished from the rest of us by colored dots on their name tags and could be spotted wandering the halls getting familiar with their music lockers and the rooms they'd spend considerable time in. It's the circle of choir life. People come, they partake, they experience, they contribute, and then they leave and are replaced by someone else.
At rehearsal, President Leavitt greeted us and recapped what was in store for the year ahead. We have our Philippines tour in just seven weeks, Lloyd Newell being replaced by a yet-unknown individual, General Conference, the Summer Concert, another tour opportunity in September to the southeast United States (exact location to be announced later), then General Conference again, followed by the Christmas Concert. And, of course, about 48 MSW performances 😀.
The rehearsal itself went OK. It was nice to see everyone again and sing. But if I'm being honest, for me personally, I felt a disconnect that I can't quite elaborate on. Sort of this feeling of not belonging or of standing on the very edge of the rehearsal experience about to fall off. I felt sad and frustrated at trying to interpret what my feelings were trying to tell me. The sadness was even more felt because I had woke up that morning feeling quite excited at the prospect of going back to Choir. So to get there and then feel "down" and confused was...hard.
Anyway...
I'm sure the broadcast today involved a lot of traveling miracles. Given the snowstorm that was in-progress as everyone tried to make their way to the Tabernacle, there's little doubt of dozens of harrowing stories to tell. In fact, rehearsal was delayed 20 min just to give people extra time to arrive. At long last though, rehearsal began and made our way through seven songs that were deemed by Mack as "old friends". Which of course is code for "we've sang these at least 100 times each, so we shouldn't need to rehearse them too much." My favorite of the bunch was "We Thank Thee Lord for This New Day". The minor key seemed to fit my mood. I know my personal life challenges are bleeding into my choir experience, but I'm not sure how to prevent that from happening. It's just a lonely, unsure, grasping-for-hope time for me and it's all I can do sometimes to just show up and hope for the best. There were several friends who asked me how I was and they did their best to respond in helpful, kind, and sympathetic ways as I recounted my honest feelings. One day I'll surprise them all by saying "things couldn't be better!" and they'll look at me skeptically and respond "Are you sure?"
Visiting the Choir today was Deborah Voigt--who was the guest artist at the 2013 Christmas Concert. She addressed the Choir after the broadcast and relayed how happy she was to be back and hear us sing (and hear the orchestra play). She said singing with the Choir was one of the highlights of her career and thanked us for all that we do.
And that, as they say, is that.
Until next time, God be with you.
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| From today's MSW Broadcast |
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