With three weeks to go until Easter, I was informed that the choir needed to sing not just one song for Sacrament Meeting...not just two songs...not just three songs. We were expected to have five or six songs for the meeting. Nothing like a good surprise.
Luckily, I've got bookmarks to plenty of LDS music sites, and I have a lot of folks ready and willing to step up to the plate. I found a unison choir piece that was very simple and lovely in its simplicity. And the four teenagers in the choir (bless them!) took on a lovely number called His Son. Along with the one we'd been rehearsing already, one from the hymnbook and a soloist, we were ready.
So during rehearsal Easter morning I felt confident that we were ready, despite carrying an extra-heavy load. There was one part in our showstopper closing song, How Great the Wisdom and the Love, where the congregation joins in, so I have to turn my back on the choir and let them fly solo, as it were. I worked and worked with the choir in that final rehearsal, turning my back on them, singing with them, listening to them, pointing out again and again that the phrasing is just a little different than the hymnbook version and to be aware of it. We did it over and over and it was perfect every time...in rehearsal.
The choir sang all the songs beautifully. The kids were fantastic! There were tears in the congregation and the choir when we sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Then it was time for How Great The Wisdom and the Love. We got through the first two verses without a hitch. It was gorgeous! We were on the home stretch and almost finished with a perfect performance. Then on measure 76 I turned the music stand around, faced the congregation, and we're all singing and it's gorgeous and...then the choir messed up their descant. Someone held a half note for five counts, and all the women followed along while the men and the piano held the note for the correct two beats and I'm singing as loud as I can over my shoulder to get the women back on track, but people in the front pews are looking at me like I've completely lost it so I clamped my mouth shut and waved my arms to the finish, trying hard to put a brave happy face on as I sat the choir down at the end.
Oh well. At least I know I'm needed. :-P If it weren't for that one glitch, it would have been perfection. My little choir did great.
