TCATS #358 - A Spot in the Top Ten

I didn't think much about the Tabernacle Choir this week. The only news to really report is that the Choir received a fairly prestigious honor by being named as one of the Top 10 choirs in the world by the well respected BBC Music Magazine. You can read the article, HERE. I think the only other choir I knew on the list was the Choir of King's College--which goes to show how choir-knowledgeable I am! I look forward to checking out some YouTube videos of the other choirs just for fun.

The other news is that PBS/WGBH created a specific website just to highlight past Christmas concerts by the Tabernacle Choir. I was actually pretty impressed with the site. Normally when you're trying to look for videos of past Christmas concerts or any "extra" or "behind the scenes" videos, you have to sort of do a blind search and hope the hits you get are the ones you're really after. But if you go to this site and click on Watch link (near the top left), you'll be taken to an all-inclusive page that includes dozens of videos of each of the Christmas concerts from 2019 thru 2016 that are nicely organized. For the concerts prior to 2016, I'm not sure WGBH was involved so that's why there's no pre-2016 content. To see that content, you can go to the Choir's YouTube channel and then to the Christmas playlists and there's a variety of videos to watch, there. 

Other than that, life for choir members goes on just as it does for many others these days. We wait for the pandemic to end, and while we wait, we use the time to work on hobbies, spend more time with family, pursue vocational or education interests, and support each other through social media posts and individual texts of encouragement and love. 

Love and prayers to you all as you treasure the moments of joy and at the same time, work hard to combat the trials you're working through. Being a Lord of the Rings fan, I thought this dialogue between Sam and Frodo is especially applicable right now, so I'll leave you with that. 

Until next time God be with you.

Frodo: "I can't do this, Sam."
Sam: "I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mister Frodo. The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened.
But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mister Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something."
Frodo: "What are we holding on to, Sam?"
Sam: "That there's some good in this world, Mister Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."

TCATS #357 - Crossing our Bridge

 

I don't have much to say today, but before I go into what little I do have to say, I just want to thank each of you for trying your best to get through all of the things you're going through. Life right now is not easy, for anyone. Every single person I know is going through something hard. That's actually true all the time--not just during the year of 2020. But the events of this year have made those hard things even harder. I like to look at our hard things as a bridge we're crossing. Normally we are crossing that bridge with a variety of support mechanisms. There's a guard rail to hold on to or suspension cables to keep the bridge steady or our line of sight to the other side is unobscured or there's someone on the bridge with us providing assurances or there are signs along the side telling us how far we have left to go. But you throw in a pandemic (that causes isolation, fear, and loss of human connection) and a very contentious political election (that causes varying negative emotions) and suddenly those support mechanisms are largely stripped away. And even if they aren't stripped away completely, we're forced to look for new ones that may be less obvious and less effective. So my prayer for each of us is that when normal means of support fail, we will feel the love and concern of our Savior who can provide support that will never fail. And perhaps holding onto Him even tighter than we did before is the very lesson we were all supposed to learn in the first place.

As for Choir-related news/feelings/thoughts, we received our weekly newsletter on Friday which actually brought some hope. Unfortunately, I can't go into any details for now, but just know that for the first time in a long time, the Choir "hope candle" was re-lit. 

In that same newsletter, we received our yearly Advance Planning Calendar--this time for 2021. The whole thing of course was TENTATIVE--subject to pandemic-related (and ever changing) safety protocols and mandates. But, it was nice to read through the list of events and rehearsals and imagine being in the Tabernacle again after so long. Perhaps I'll just look at the calendar being sent as a big act of faith. 

And finding ways to express faith is always a good thing.

Until next time, God be with you.

PS: You're invited to partake in listening to or watching the Christmas concert from last year. You can find info on how to watch it, HERE. If you're not able to access a PBS station or BYU-TV, you can purchase the DVD, the CD, or stream an HD version from Amazon. (Listen to song samples, HERE, or listen to the album in its entirety on Apple Music or Spotify).

TCATS #356 - Three Positives

I'll be honest. Some Sundays I sit down to write this weekly blog entry and discouragement fills my soul. There really isn't a lot of Tabernacle Choir news to talk about. There are no songs we're currently singing that I can give my thoughts on. And at a time of year when the choir is normally extremely busy preparing for the annual Christmas Concert, we currently aren't busy in the slightest. Speaking of the Christmas Concert, just today I was at a family dinner and my sister-in-law told us of an event we were invited to on Dec 12th. So I got out my phone to add the event and lo and behold, there was an entry I must have missed deleting months ago when we were told there'd be more Choir events for the year: "TabChoir Christmas Concert". 

It was sort of a sobering moment. 

I think out of all of the missed Choir events this year, missing the Christmas Concert will be the most painful. For me, performing in the Christmas concert and singing such beautiful Christmas music really added a special spirit to the overall Christmas holiday each year. To find an adequate replacement for that will be challenging.

That all said, I'm going to adopt the attitude of looking for the good in situations since as a family, our goal was to look for three good things at church today (this exercise was, in large part, for my own benefit since masks and social distancing makes it hard to enjoy church these days). 

So. Three good things about not being able to sing with the Tabernacle Choir for eight months now. 

Hmm.

1)  More family time. And especially having more family time during November and December when the holidays seem to make things a little crazy.

2)  Appreciation. Appreciation for the social, musical, and spiritual dimensions that were added to my life when fulfilling my musical calling.

3)  Friendship reset. Recognizing the friends most interested in staying in touch.

To end with today, I leave you with a favorite quote about music.

Where words fail, music speaks. (Hans Christian Anderson)

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #355 - The State of Choral Singing

A few months ago, I devoted a post to reviewing what was being talked about in the news in regards to choral singing. At that time, the general tone and consensus was quite negative. Article after article talked about choral groups being shutdown, professional singers struggling to make ends meet, and a very grim, long-lasting future of singers not being able to do what they love to do for years to come. 

As I watched my son's Fall Jr. High Choral Concert this past week, I was reminded that where there's a will, there's a way.

To be sure, the junior high concert was less than ideal is so many ways. The concert itself was split into two sessions to allow for more effective social distancing. These young kids were spread out to fill the stage, wearing masks, and trying desperately to sing the songs they learned without the advantage of truly hearing their fellow singers right next to them (such a task is challenging for any choral singer, but when you're 13 or 14, in the middle of puberty, and struggling with confidence, it's REALLY hard). Each of the groups performing did just one or two songs and the concert was over almost before it began (30 minutes). 

At any rate, I decided to Google "pandemic choral singing" just to see if the articles that came up had the same dismal tone to them as they did a few months ago. And you know what? The tone had changed! Changed to hope and adaptation. There was a definite statement being made by these articles. A statement that if summed up would say "We acknowledge there's a pandemic and the need to take precautions. But we are NOT going to stand idly by and do nothing. We're going to adapt and make things work and we're going to do what we love because it will not only help us, but it will uplift and inspire others."

Here are a few headlines:

• A Choir Finds a Way to Sing
• We are Going to Stay Safe and Keep Singing
• Slowly and safely, choirs are getting back together
• A choir resumes singing, with masks and after outweighing pandemic risks
• Choirs get creative to make music
• No matter the distance, we can sing together
• Philadelphia choir survives with unique outdoor performances
• They are my family; choir resumes rehearsals 

These all lifted my spirits and I'm grateful that choral groups around the world are not letting the pandemic prevent them from doing what they love to do and bringing others hope during hard times.

As for the Tabernacle Choir, there's really no news to report. Reruns of MSW continue; the Choir's official app was recently refreshed with additional content; the Christmas program from last year is on sale (CD or DVD--or if you prefer high definition, which I think you would, you can stream an HD version from Amazon); and the Choir leadership group is certainly working on what this year's Christmas program will be. 

That's it.

Until next time, God be with you.