TCATS #424 - St. Olaf

The Tabernacle Choir welcomed the distinguished a capella St. Olaf Choir today as guest performers on Music & the Spoken Word. Some interesting facts about this choir:

*The choir was founded back in 1912 and is based in Northfield, Minnesota.
*During their 110 year history, the choir has only had four directors.
*The choir is currently directed by Anton Armstrong who has actually been a guest conductor for the Tabernacle Choir on several occasions in the past.
*The choir is made up of about 75 college students (who obviously attend St. Olaf College).
*Of the choir's mission, Armstrong has said "We seek to be a transforming force in society through choral performance, bringing understanding, mercy, justice, peace, and hope to a world that desperately cries out for these things.”

While the Choir's website doesn't mention much about testifying of Christ, St. Olaf college is a Lutheran college. And it, along with it's associated choir, believes in Jesus Christ and believes in promoting Christ's message of peace and hope.

While we sang together today on a few of the pieces, there were times when members of the St. Olaf choir sang on their own --and they sounded beautiful. The choir reminded me of a lot of the BYU Singers choir in terms of exceptional quality, cohesiveness, and perfect blending. All in all, it was a joy to have them with us today. 

There were two things, though, that I wish could have happened. 

First, I wish we would have had time to visit with members of the choir and establish a personal connection. Obviously there was no way for 400 members of the Tabernacle Choir to each have a conversation with even just one of the members of the St. Olaf choir. But, I don't believe all 400 would have wanted that. Perhaps just those interested could have had the chance-- had it been offered. Then again, our overall mission today was to come together and sing to the world--not personally connect. It's like when we go on tour. We never get to mix and mingle afterwards with members of the audience. 

Second, I thought FOR SURE that members of the St. Olaf choir would be asked to turn around and face us as we sang "God Be With You". Guests always turn to face us so we can sing TO THEM. As we had been staring at the back of their heads for over an hour, it would have been great to see their faces--to see their eyes--and then sing directly to them. But that did not happen. We sang to the back of their heads. :(

After the official MSW was over with (ending with one of my favorite pieces "Thou Gracious God Whose Mercy Lends"), the St. Olaf choir sang two additional pieces.  Both were really beautiful. I particularly enjoyed the second one in which members of the choir started swaying back and forth and sharing enthusiastic expressions.  With their purple robes and a couple of the women doing some pretty cool solos, it was kind of like what you'd envision seeing some Baptist choir do. Sort of. Anyway, the way they performed it was very effective. 

All too soon, the experience was over and they departed. Weird to think that we'll probably never see them again. Such a realization is always weird--when you meet someone or have some sort of experience with someone and then you part ways knowing it's very unlikely you'll see each other again.  

Life is filled with lots of weird things. 

Until next time, God be with you.

Click to enlarge

 

 

TCATS #423 - Sissel + Public Now Welcome

The Tabernacle Choir welcomed Sissel back this week--who joined us at both our Thursday rehearsal and at our Sunday performance. There was actually a dual purpose to her visit. First, she was here to get a few songs recorded with us (perhaps for a forthcoming album?); and second, she was here to perform a couple of those songs on Music & the Spoken Word today. 

As mentioned last week, today was the first day that the general public was invited to walk through the doors of the Tabernacle and enjoy MSW in person. And walk through the doors they did. :) Aside from a few side benches underneath the balcony, most of the seating was occupied by those who were eager to hear the Choir and Orchestra again after such a long break. It was great to see the hall filled up and certainly brought back memories of years ago when no one thought twice about the hall getting filled up.

Probably the highlight of the broadcast was the two songs Sissel performed: Slow Down, and Beautiful Savior (sung partially in Norwegian). From a music/tune perspective, I'm not as big a fan of Slow Down as some people are. But I do really appreciate the lyrics and can see the world being a much better place if people sometimes slowed down and unburdened themselves with the various distractions swirling around them. 

At the conclusion of MSW, we actually sang (for the first time since March 2020) "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again" to close out the program. It was formally directed at Sissel and her husband and pianist, but was directed, too, to all audience members. 

As I sat in my seat this morning before rehearsal started, I remembered back to what I used to do at MSW performances. I used to say a specific prayer in my heart that at least one person would feel something positive:  maybe a little lighter, filled with a little more hope, and feeling less alone. I also used to pick out one person in the audience to since the final song to. I thought it would be cool to start doing those things again.

By far, the hardest thing about this week was recording the songs. Recording is just a very long and tedious process and while we all appreciate Ryan Murphy's listening and feedback skills, sometimes it's just infuriating. Especially when we all feel like we just had a good take and even Mack said "That felt good, can we move on?" and Ryan replies from the sound recording booth "It was good, but. . .".  Haha. The infamous "but". In all seriousness though, thanks Ryan for not settling for anything but the best sound we can produce!

Until next time, God be with you.

 

 

 

TCATS #422 - Glorious Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

The Music & the Spoken Word program today was one I really enjoyed personally. The choir and orchestra were joined by the bells and the Gabriel Trumpet entourage --both of whom made the whole program sound more magnificent. It felt great, too, to have so many visitors in the Tabernacle to watch/listen. Technically, the "100 people only" restrictions were to be lifted next week, but I'm glad that whoever was in charge of that just let anyone in who wanted to come in. No better week to have a full house than on Easter! (It actually wasn't a full house, but probably around 300 or so)

Out of all the songs we sang, the last two were the ones that impacted me the most. I'm starting to FEEL again and "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and "Hallelujah Chorus" were the two songs I felt the most. Speaking of that former song, at Thursday night's rehearsal when we were practicing that song, there was a woman sitting up on the right side of the balcony that just couldn't stop crying. Obviously the words of that song had really touched her--and while the song itself is not my most favorite (musically speaking), I do love the words and how they can be a direct reflection (and powerful remembrance) of one's testimony of Christ.

As a follow-up from last week's post, I did want to mention that our non-vaxxed members of the Choir joined us on Thursday night--observing from the balcony. They WERE acknowledged by one of the presidency members (though he referred to them more generically), but I felt it was rather insensitive that the very next announcement made was one that admonished everyone to stay current with their vaccinations and boosters. Ug. That said, I am choosing to focus on the good here and the good is that they are back with us and, for the most part, feel very welcome and anxious to actually start participating again, beginning next week. 

Coming up soon...

*Sissel to be joining us on an upcoming broadcast
*An announcement regarding a concert in July
*The St. Olaf Choir will join us on an upcoming broadcast as well

Until next time, God be with you (and enjoy some pics from today's broadcast, below)

TCATS #421 - Soon to Be Whole Again

As I've mentioned before, there's a subset of individuals in the Choir, Bells, and Orchestra at Temple Square that have been waiting and waiting to rejoin us. The Choir Presidency has not allowed them to come back and fulfill their calling because they are unvaccinated against covid-19. Some of these individuals cannot be vaxxed because of various health conditions. Some have followed the Church's own handbook that says members are to "make their own decisions about vaccination...,counsel with competent medical professionals and also seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost"--and after following that counsel, felt a confirmation not to be vaxxed. Regardless, all of them have been spending a great deal of time waiting and wondering and hoping. 

Thankfully, in our choir announcements on Friday, the Choir Presidency made the announcement that our unvaxxed brothers and sisters will finally be able to return:

"The Choir Presidency has concluded it is time to invite all members of the Choir, regardless of vaccination status, to return to the loft and stage. Returning members of the Choir, Orchestra, and Bells may begin attending rehearsals on Thursday, April 14 and may begin participating in performances on Sunday, April 24."

Woohoo! I was so, so happy about this!  Ever since October last year when the Choir started moving forward again, it's been difficult not to feel this "incomplete" feeling and to continually remember how difficult it's been for our fellow unvaxxed friends to sit on the sidelines. A few texted me on Friday expressing how happy they were and shedding tears of joy of having this long wait finally come to a close.

I don't know if the Presidency will make mention of them on April 14th or not. I would hope so. But regardless, I hope they receive a warm welcome from the rest of us who have eagerly awaited their return.  Indeed, I hope they feel they are on the receiving end of the hymn lyrics we've sung many times before:

As I have loved you,
Love one another.
This new commandment:
Love one another.
By this shall men know
Ye are my disciples,
If ye have love
One to another.

Until next time, God be with you.
 

TCATS #420 - April 2022 Conference

Here are my top 10 highlights from April 2022 General Conference (in no particular order):

10. Seeing the excitement, nervousness, and humility of those in the choir who's first conference this was. I was introduced to several of them, talked to a few of them (nice to meet you Matt, Patrick, and Alberto), and noticed many of them. It's fun to remember back to my first conference--to re-live those emotions  and try and recapture that energy. 

9. Sitting next to my good friends Ben and Siope. Ever since our new seating manager re-took our height measurements, I've been moving to higher rows and sitting next to people I used to sit next to many years ago. Anyway, it was a privilege singing next to them and I had several good friends right in front of me as well. Surrounded by love!

8. Hearing first-hand how it feels to go through someone's last conference. My dear friend Ryan is retiring from the choir in a few weeks and he related to me how he was feeling about this being his last conference to sing in. (I'll highlight Ryan in a future post)

7. Having donut holes to consume during the break before the morning session. I was really hungry and those hit the spot. Thanks to whoever provided them!

6. Being a part of Choir history as this was the first General Conference where the Choir sang everything memorized. A couple of weeks ago, we were told we'd be able to hold music for "I Love to See the Temple" and "Iron Rod" because they were brand new arrangements. However, after all of the rehearsing, we felt we had the notes down well enough to sing them both by memory. So we did. Granted, we did have a teleprompter for all of conference music. But as I mentioned before, the teleprompter does not give us notes, pitch, rhythm, etc. 

5. Talking with Siope a few minutes here and a few minutes there during our "waiting to rehearse or perform" breaks about what we were thinking and how we were feeling. We took a minute to acknowledge choir members who have not yet been invited back because of their vax status. Love you guys!

4. Hearing very positive feedback from both Mack and Ryan on our performances. Always feels good to know our hard work is paying off.

3. Being thankful for all of the volunteers who help make conference a reality. Everything from the flower arrangements (thanks Andrew!), to the parking attendants, to the teleprompter people, to those providing us lunch, to the security people, and the many who usher and kindly assist. And of course, a very special thanks to our awesome organists. They are amazing.

2. Having good conversations with several of my buddies. 

1. Getting to sing inspiring music and hear inspiring messages. I'm not sure which of the songs we sang was my favorite. I really liked the two newly-arranged songs. But "It Is Well With My Soul" is always a favorite. I was hoping that singing that one today would help in the process of making my heart soft again. But while that didn't happen, I was able to see it emotionally affect many people around me. Regardless, I hope the music helped at least one person today. If it did, all the work we put in was worth it.

Special thanks as always to my family and their support. They are the best.

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #419 - The New People

While the past couple of years have been challenging for seasoned choir members in various ways, it's certainly been rough for the newer members of the choir. You have the "new" choir members that began their journey in January of 2020 whose experience was cut short just three months later. Then you have the new members who joined in January of this year--though technically they didn't start in January because of the additional "pause" the Choir went on until March 3rd. The ones who joined in 2020 got thrown into the learning curve fire as they had all of these pieces to learn for Oct 2021 General Conference, the MSW broadcasts, and the Christmas Concert. And now the 2022 new people have only had a few weeks to learn music for the April General Conference which is only one week away. 

The 2022 people, once Conference is over, will have some additional time to complete Choir School and Chorale and won't have to worry too much (at least for now) about learning so many new pieces week to week. But the 2020 people continue their learning curve which has only been exacerbated by the new goal to memorize almost every piece of music we sing so that the audience has more of an opportunity to look into our eyes.

This is all to say that I have great empathy for them. I've been so consumed internally about things going on in my own choir experience that I sort of forgot about them. But today, as all of the new 2022 people sat off to the side to observe MSW and to participate in the extra rehearsal afterwards, their challenges (along with the 2020 newbies) were ones I thought more about. I also felt a bit ashamed that I haven't been praying for them and their challenges. Which is the least I can do.

As I was walking back to the music lockers after rehearsal today, I overheard a conversation between two of the 2020 newbies. They were talking about how many hours they had rehearsed at home just to prepare for today's MSW broadcast. One of the guys spent over two hours on just one piece alone-- "Their Sound is Gone Out Into All Lands" (by Handel). It all reminded me that yes, I do need to pray more for my choir family. And yes, I need to be more grateful for the fact that usually, I can show up to Choir, sing most of the pieces by heart, and only have to occasionally spend minimal time at home learning our songs.

Some interesting tidbits for the week:

*We had a distinguished guest join us at Thursday night's rehearsal. His name was Dmytro Kushnerukhe and he is one of the Consulate Generals of Ukraine (stationed in San Francisco). As he was announced, all those in the room rose to their feet and gave him quite a warm welcome.

*While we haven't had time to prepare for a traditional live Easter Concert, there's a special streaming Easter Celebration on April 10th at 10:00AM. Details HERE.

*The next choir retirement is coming up in April (to say goodbye to those who were supposed to retire in 2020). And then we'll have another one in the Fall for those who were supposed to retire in 2021.

Have a nice week everyone. And if there's someone that maybe you've forgotten to pray for lately, maybe start praying for them again. :)

Until next time, God be with you.

TCATS #418 - High Praise #2 + Just Plain Weird

It was a pretty good week in Tabernacle Choir land.

And even though Thursday's rehearsal started off with some very triggering/frustrating moments--which didn't set a very great tone for the rest of evening--focusing on the music itself and thinking about why exactly I was there, really helped.

Today's Music & the Spoken Word went very well and for the 2nd time in my Tabernacle Choir career, I heard Mack say at the conclusion of the program, "It couldn't have gone better." Mack has been very happy about our performances lately--particularly with seeing our eyes and faces more now that we've been utilizing the teleprompter and have little need to look down at our music. While there are downsides to the teleprompter which I've already talked about previously, it certainly does allow our countenances to more fully share our testimonies of Christ.

My favorite song of the day was the first one and the last one. The first one was "All Creatures of Our God and King" and it gave me all the feels. I particularly honed in on the lyric "Ye light of evening find a voice." Why that lyric, you ask? Well for me, it's symbolic of those who may not have a really bright light to share, but find a way to share it anyway in meaningful and significant ways.

The last song was a new one called "Lift Up Your Hearts", which was originally arranged by Mack for a specific out-of-state choir. The members of that choir were listening in this morning knowing that that we'd be performing that song. So it was kind of fun to envision them all tuning in. 

We did have a live audience this morning of maybe 100 people or so. Always great to have someone we can actually see as we perform! I think most of us in the Choir were expecting to finally sing our signature closing piece "God Be With You" after the program was over. But then, something just plain weird happened.

With no warning, Mack said "OK, we're now going to sing the happy birthday song to KSL" and then proceeded to quickly sing it for us just so there'd be no question as to how it was supposed to go. So we just launched into singing happy birthday to KSL (a local TV/radio station) right after we had just ended MSW on such a spiritual note. The whole time I was thinking, "So we traded what could have been a very impactful song for the audience for what felt like some commercial?"

It didn't stop there though. 

Following our happy birthday singing, Mack announced we needed to speak the words....oh shoot! I now forget what they were! Something like "Thanks for all you do Mark". That wasn't it, but it was something random like that--for a person we didn't know (at least I didn't). After THAT, the audience started filing out and we continued with our extra rehearsal.

Sometimes the Choir does do weird stuff--and it's been awhile since we have. So I guess we were due.

At any rate, in closing I wanted to mention some nice things people said to me today. Steve, on my left, showed genuine concern and asked how my eye was doing. Later, Jay, on my right, said I have facial expressions while I sing that he thought were great (my wife always says that too--so kudos to her as well). Wes gave me a fist bump and said he was glad to see me today. And Ben and Willy thanked me for driving. 

Sometimes it's the little things that have the biggest impact.

Until next time, God be with you.