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.
No comments:
Post a Comment