Giving Thanks

I'm so very excited about our music (the choral music of John Rutter) for next term...I thought it appropriate to quote Cecil F. Alexander's 1848 poem on this Thanksgiving Eve. Most all choral folks have sung Rutter's arrangement of ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL before...it is a simple thought but one that is needed in our chaotic, frantic, and fast-paced world! Happy Thanksgiving, peeps!

Refrain:All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flow’r that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings.

The purple-headed mountains,

The river running by,

The sunset and the morning

That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter,

The pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden,

He made them every one.

The tall trees in the greenwood,

The meadows where we play,

The rushes by the water,

To gather every day.

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Harmony

This might be the shortest blog post ever recorded. Here goes . . .

This is the choir.

This is the choir after the best dress rehearsal ever.

Any questions?

Our perfect world

Back to Tharp, folks. Page 135. Here are her ground rules to make, what she calls, "our perfect world". And I quote (her words in italics, mine in plain type:)

Quiet. (Wow, I harp on that in rehearsals, don't I? You are getting ever so much better about listening and keeping extraneous comments to yourself. Not perfect, but better).

No one present who does not belong--no observers (Here I part company with her; I really like it when folks come in to listen. There is a heightened sense of awareness of in the singers...like they are immediately thrust into performance mode. That's a GOOD thing).

All the time in the world. No worry that you will be thrown out or that you will go into overtime. (Would that we had that luxury. I am tied to a 50 minute rehearsal timeframe. It limits me. It limits you. But it is what it is. That's why we go to sectionals and try and find private practice time).

No goal other than to try things. (again, would that we all take risks and plunge ahead, instead of waiting for the person next to us to take the initiative. Kind of like my daughter did when she took a photo of this river and then digitally altered it to look like a watercolor. She experimented; she tried a new technique and it worked!).

No fear of failure; nothing will fail. (Gosh, I like this. It has alway been my goal to create a safe haven in the choral room. Where we lift each other up. Where we never make fun of someone else's weaknesses until we claim to have none of our own.)

No obligations other than to do your best (AMEN!)

We entertain each other; I challenge them, and they challenge me (YES! AMEN AGAIN!)

Each day completes itself. The next day is new. (The missed notes, the missed opportunities in today's rehearsal are gone. The next rehearsal is another day...with new opportunities. A new dawn.) See you Friday!