Christmas program

We presented our Christmas program at our church as four performances over Saturday and Sunday this week-end. I think it went very well. At least I know the people who saw it liked it. We played to four nearly-full houses. I only saw about 10 seats empty (out of a few hundred) in two of the four performances. The other two were packed. The choir (which my son and I were a part of) sang well and with great enthusiasm. The band that accompanied us was terrific. The children's choir had the congregation going crazy with a mix of a good song and the usual antics of a few of the kids during their song. I hope to update this post later with a link to a recording of the performance.

Of course, besides performing this for the people of our community, we also offered it up to our Lord. We are celebrating his birthday after all. It's almost like group prayer. A coordinated group prayer. To pull off a choral performance takes a lot of work. It also takes people who are willing to sing out - which takes confidence that you know the part. It also takes the ability to listen to the other singers in the group. You can't sing so loudly that you overpower them but you need to sing loud enough so that your part is heard. Our director asked that we memorize the music (45-minutes worth of music) so that we would watch her for cues and direction instead of staring into books. We all had to admit that we didn't have the entire program perfectly memorized. But each person had parts of it down so, again, listening to each other, we were able to get cues from each other.

I highly recommend singing in a chorus - for anyone. There are all ranges of abilities and many choirs (ours included) don't hold try-outs. If you can carry a tune, you are usually welcomed to join. Reading music is definitely an advantage but is not necessary. You can learn a part by hearing it over and over. Your singing will improve, you'll meet new people and you will be part of a group striving to make something out of nothing. There is a real thrill as you see the songs improving with each rehearsal. And if you are fortunate enough to sing to God, you may find that the results were pleasing to the Creator of music, the earth and everything.