Don't Shoot the Piano Player!

I arose at 5:30 AM, a time that highly disagrees with me.  I sat on the sofa feeding my two spoiled rotten Chihuahuas as I waited for consciousness to alight upon me.  All the while, I'm hoping and praying that the oft-experienced We-Performed-Last-Week-So-We-(Or-At-Least-I)-Deserve-A-Sunday-Off absenteeism wouldn't be a problem.  By 7:30, the 'Burb was warming up and I headed off to church.  Luckily I found an outer door that was unlocked, despite the empty parking lot.  I opened the rehearsal room, set up three rows of chairs and waited in hopeful anticipation that our numbers would be as great as they were last week.

After church last week, a little birdie told me that my usual pianist would be out of town.  So I made arrangements for one of the young men who plays piano to fill in.  All I needed were the parts pluncked out, so no biggie.  I had full confidence in his abilities.

My tenor and a soprano couple arrived.  A minute later a bass arrived, followed shortly by an alto.  Enough to have a quartet, but not enough for a choir.  At five minutes after, I offered an opening prayer and prayed for more bodies to arrive -- preferably living, not dead asleep still.

By about 20 after the hour, I had eight people.  No pianist. 

In case you've never tried it before, let me assure you that it's tricky business leading a choir and playing the piano at the same time, even if you're only plunking out the individual parts.  Why?  Because the choir, especially when learning a new and rather complicated piece, relies heavily on the choir director to lead them vocally.  Unfortunately, I can hardly chew gum and clap my hands at the same time.  Likewise, I simply cannot play the piano and sing at the same time.  I fail miserably.  I'm not known for my piano playing either.  I'm lucky to get through four measures of one-fingered plunking without a major faux pas.

We worked mostly on the women's parts since the two men who were there are both able to sight read very well.  As I was plunking through the alto line, my poor alto kept saying she was getting lost.  So I'd start over, and again she got lost.  She said, "The F is held for three counts, right?"  I replied, "What F?  No, it goes like this..." and I'd plunk again.  She brought her music to me.  Lo! and behold, my copy was different than the one I'd downloaded off the internet for the choir. 

Just not my day.

So I pulled out a spare copy of the correct music, sat back at the piano, and plunked the ladies into utter confusion.  Have I mentioned I'm not great on the piano?

So don't shoot the piano player this week.  I did my best. 

Filling the Ranks

This past Sunday I was early to rehearsal, as was one other person.  By 8 AM there were maybe five people in their seats.  By 8:10 there were maybe seven.  I was without a pianist.  And I soon learned that a meeting was keeping more than half of my choir members out of rehearsal.  So our sparse few worked a cappella, which is hard for even the best choirs let alone a sparse little country choir in Arizona.

When the meeting let out at 8:30 and my people began showing, it was quite exciting.  We had more people than I've ever seen attend choir before!  We didn't have much time to rehearse with the piano, but we got through the piece enough times to make me confident we'd perform to the best of our abilities.

Sure enough, when it came time for my little group to sing How Great Thou Art, they did a great job.  They watched for my cut-offs, they watched the dynamics, they seemed sure of themselves and performed very well.  And there were so many people that the entire stand up front was full!  I was ecstatic.

How many people will return to the ranks?  How many new folks will show up?  Don't know.  It's always a tricky question.  Sometimes filling up the ranks one week will inspire even more to come out.  Sometimes those who may be lukewarm will figure choir will be fine without them and stay home.  We'll see...

But this week, I was a happy, happy choir director.

How Great Thou Art

Here we go!

I wrote an arrangement of How Great Thou Art that's simple, yet has enough changes to keep it flowing and interesting. Yes, I know the song has a copyright restriction but I'm not selling my arrangement and when the choir is finished, it will all disappear. Poof!

Today was the first time we've gone over my arrangement. As we started off, I began to wonder if perhaps my expectations for 2011 were a bit too lofty. I perished the thought and pushed on.

There was a big faux pas with the lyrics on the sheet music (my computer has a tendency of eating lyrics), and the altos seemed hesitatant about their first notes in the harmony since the piano part is really doing its own thing throughout. The "ad libitums" ended up more like fermatas since noses were buried in the music folders.

But let me tell you...it's amazing what 50 minutes versus 15 minutes of rehearsal can do! After rehearsing for about 40 minutes, my little choir was getting the feel of the music! They were finding their pitches! They were following their conductor!

I can't wait until next week to perform. Plus, I've got new singers scheduled to appear beginning next week.

There are times when I really love being a choir director. Today was one of them.

Choir...today, how great thou wert.

A New Year

The choir met this morning to discuss the new year's schedule and goals. I'm more or less bound by the new schedule, but I'm expanding on the goals.

Last year we had 25 minutes to rehearse each Sunday. And most of the choir members were ten minutes late or more, which didn't give us an opportunity to really shine as I believe we can. This year we're dedicating 50 minutes to choir and I'm ecstatic!! (I just wish we were meeting later in the day so my pre-noon brain fog could clear.) With 50 minutes of rehearsal time, and with renewed vigor, enthusiasm and commitment to promptness, I believe our little choir will make huge steps forward.

I asked what type of music members of the choir would prefer to do in 2011. Many said they want to stick to hymns. Most of our choir members don't sight read and so hymns are the easy choice.  While it is true that the First Presidency has encouraged us to use hymns in choral singing, but I personally don't see a whole lot of difference between the congregation singing a hymn and a few members stepping up from the congregation to sing a hymn. Therefore, hymn singing will be kept to a minimum. Like.....maybe once.

So this year your loyal, humble choir director is going to work it. I hope to present music that will present enough of a challenge to keep you on your toes, but not so hard that you become discouraged. I hope to teach more vocal training, sight reading, music interpretation and such. I'll even come to your home and work with you one-on-one if you prefer.

As far back as I can remember, I've had musical ability. Maybe it's in my genes -- my great-grandmother and my grandfather were both very musical. Maybe I was a little pre-mortal angel who sang in heavenly choirs. All I know is it's a blessing that comes naturally to me, and the more I work at it, the more blessed I have become. But what good is it if I can't impart my knowledge to the people I serve as choir director?  Our talents are meant to share,  not hide under a bushel.

So I hope my little choir will come along with me, accept what I have to offer, give me their full commitment and capture the vision I have for 2011.

I'm expecting a great year!