Notes and Music

We warmed up for the programs last night (we performed three times!) and had our photographs taken for the CD sleeve.

The wise sound engineers are going to take a 'best of' approach to our recording and have taped EVERY SINGLE SOUNDBYTE. They will take the best rendition of each number and put it onto the CD of our event.

That all sounds so very professional and so NOT like a church choir and orchestra of volunteers.

But surprisingly, with the noteable exception of the 5th concert in the series thus far, the musicians, singers and narrator have all risen to the occassion magnificently. Of course, that is just my perspective from where I sit.

However, apocryphal evidence and 4 standing ovations and a 'gee, I guess we oughta' should indicate that we have indeed born witness of that baby born in a manger who literally changed the world.

Funny thing is, I notice some of the folks around me reaching for handkerchiefs from time to time. They have talked about feeling so much of the spirit of the music and I realize that I haven't applied myself to the rehearsal at home process as much as I should have or could have. During the prayer before we started last night, one of the men asked that we be recognized and blessed by the Lord for all of our effort and hard work in preparing for this event.

I can't say honestly that I have 'burned the midnight oil' over my music. Nor can I honestly say I have knocked myself out burning the oil during the daylight, either.

To be sure, I have rehearsed my music, taking it walking and to the gym with me and singing along while pumping iron. (don't laugh - it keeps me in rhythm!)

But I wonder what the criteria for others in the choir is regarding daily rehearsal: how long each day do they rehearse? Are they constantly playing their rehearsal CD or listening to tracks downloaded to their mp3 players or iPods?

Is the frequency a matter of multiple short rehearsals all day long, or do they lay out specific amounts of time to rehearse indepth?

So the words in his prayer petitioning the Lord for His Divine blessings over our concerts has become an opportunity for me to assess just how vital I intend to be both in this particular setting and in my life as a whole.

Having been in the percussion section for a majority of my youth, I have come to a rather understated understanding: it doesn't matter how many notes you get to play. It only matters that you have practiced them, and, most importantly, that you come in at the right time and stop at the right time.

Without the proper time frame, no matter how lovely your part, it creates a jangling dissonance that is hard to ignore. And even the indulgence of a kind audience will not be forgiving of a program lacking in substance.

How hard it is to combine the vocal talents and musical skills of a roomfull of people! Everyone has internal metronomes that are set to a tempo only they can hear, or appreciate. When I was in school years ago, my band director said percussionists have only two tempos. Faster and stopped.

I have learned over my lifetime thus far that there is an element of truth in that statement. During these rehearsals, we have learned that a lot of people equate quiet volume with slow tempo. Needless to say, the practice sessions have been exciting from time to time as our patient and skilled director coaxes us along.

My prayer for tonight is that we will all be singing the right notes and from the same sheet of music.

And if that occurs, it will be enough.

Choir and orchestra

Gimme an "A"!

Okay all you people, it's time to tune up and it's time to do it now!

Line up in there Tenor section! Baritones, stand tall! All of you Altos turn slightly toward the center and Sopranos - we are not going to screech out the notes! Let's keep it nice, round tones - fish lips, if you please!

Bass, lets hear that passage in 'The First Nowell'. . .

Now, orchestra, can we tune the violins please . . .

No. Temporary insanity hasn't set in - yet.

This weekend is the Christmas Program which we have been rehearsing for months. It's time to share our testimony, thoughts and joy of the season in song. This is the first time I have been able to sing with the choir.

The first two years, they needed a percussionist, so I played the tympani and various auxiliary percussion pieces. Which is fine by me. I figure if we are truly exercising our talents this year as our gift to the Savior born in the manger so long ago, then we shouldn't care whether we are the lowly shepherd piping our tune on the quiet hillside to calm the sheep or the majestic king playing a lute as the firelight twinkles in the dunes as they seek to follow the star in their approach the newborn king in a manger.

Sometimes we forget that.

I don't recall the Holy Bible reading of Luke 2 telling how only the really cool or the impressive got the message of the Savior coming into the world. The prophecies of Isaiah and the other Messianic prophets told the world. But only those who were prepared to believe and who were willing to perform the effort were granted the glorious view of the new star and the miracle of Salvation which had come into the world. And that had nothing to do with their station in life. It had EVERYTHING to do with their heart.

When you have a willing heart, you truly believe that Christ was born in a humble stable to a pure and totally prepared virgin. Jesus came to a family that was both simple and complex. He was and is, simply, the Son of God. He was and is, to many a complex notion, just like us - mortal.

But in order for that babe in the manger to become the Anointed One who could indeed atone for us all, He had to grow beyond 'just a baby' and be totally and wholly our Savior. And that meant that he could WILLINGLY lay down his life and pour out his blood for us so that we could live.

I just hope while we sing, the people who come to the presentations over the next three days will feel the spirit of what we are trying to say.

Merry CHRISTmas. For without Christ there is not much to be merry about.

A really good movie

When was the last time you saw a really good movie?

Well, thanks to the recommendation and the generosity of my best friend who loaned me her copy of an absolutely FABULOUS movie, my husband and I had a GREAT evening together.

Look, we are simple country folks without much taste for fancy stuff. Ha ha.

And we have swamp land for sale in Floridy for a reeeeeealy good price.

Fact is, sometimes it is just more fun to turn off the lights, sit real close and watch a movie that doesn't require being dressed up to attend. My ability to perceive the finer points of Hollywood's gems isn't limited by watching their offerings in my socks.

I think that I feel closer to the programs I see without the trappings of a theater sometimes. I am NOT knocking going out, but sometimes, I just want to see a movie without the hassle of ticket lines or cellphone conversation in the next seat over from some boor who believes they are 'too important' to turn the thing off.

So I can enjoy a wonderful evening and a great program in the company of my longsuffering husband and do it all in my socks. Find me a multi-mega-giganto-plex that allows all of that.

Plus, my popcorn is better. mmmmm!

Time

Shopping.

The usual stuff gets tossed into the shopping cart with the groceries. I sometimes call the carts buggies. That is apparently something worth the scornful laughter of people who believe Southern speech is an evil to be stamped out.

Whatever.

Regardless of what you call that three wheeled menace (so named because one wheel is on its own little planet and it isn't ours), the grocery shopping must be done.

I was astounded to come around the corner and discover a rack filled with giftcards for virtually everything you could imagine and a few things I'd never heard of.

Yeah, I need to get out more.

But the wonderful options made me consider something.

When I was a kid, it seemed like Christmas and birthdays were a million miles away and that the joy of opening whatever had been given was a kind of kiddie euphoria that made life seem wonderful.

Now, I think that we have become so 'complex' in our thinking that the joys of simply being in the present with one another's lives are filtering away. We want to be part of what goes on, but only conditionally.

I want to give my family and friends something this year but am unsure how to package it.

I want to give them my time.

Time that is undiluted, where my mind isn't wandering off onto my reply or the pot roast in the crock pot.

Time that is unfettered by whatever my concerns are and, instead, is directed solely to what they need, they want and they feel.

Time that we can use to laugh and cry and share the minutia of THEIR life and times.

Time is the one missing ingredient in most relationships. We talk about nations and people, the most frequent casualty of the day is the time to build something lasting by spending real, one to one, face to face time that builds friends, families and nations into something greater and stronger than they were before.

While I can't possibly cough up the money to feed all the starving children or clothe every naked soul, I can give up the time to feed my friends and family with the time that they are starving for. I can clothe them in the attention and care that lets them know just how very important they are to me every single day.

And that doesn't require a gift card or a floating balance.