First, school ended for the semester at the beginning of the month. Look ma, all A's! I was proud to overcome the challenges of balancing school work with the rest of my life (day job, church jobs, choir rehearsals, spouse, kids, etc.) and the challenges of the classes themselves (remembering to include the inversion, trying to hear inversions in the ear training lab, playing my jury piano pieces). I've also enjoyed this break between semesters to recuperate!
As is my usual plan for December, I spent the month singing. A lot. The month kicked off with the Messiah Sing-a-long. The night of the first concert, I got to watch my son Jonathan play with the Jr. Honors Band Clinic before I ran to Norris to sing. Yay for my musical family! The evening of the second concert, I got to sing my favorite solo from the work - "Come Unto Him". Just so beautiful and peaceful - like a sung prayer of rest. I sigh just thinking about it.
Next came the Clayton Holiday Concerts with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Most people wonder why in the world I'd want to sing 4 concerts in one weekend. Honestly, I'm in it for the snow and Santa. I get to celebrate Christmas with hundreds of people four times in one weekend. I get to watch kids light up when they see Santa. I get to hear the audience laugh with glee when the snow falls. I get to watch the Maestro show off his fancy candy cane socks and conduct with a glimmer in his eye and hands waving like Bugs Bunny. I get to be part of the ongoing selfie competition within the Knoxville Choral Society. Like this one:
There's just so much fun to be had, and I don't mind 4 concerts in one weekend -- as long as that's not my schedule *every* weekend!
Side note: For two weeks in December, Joshua was out of town, leaving me to be a temporary single Mom. It reinforced to me how difficult it would be for me to pursue music if I had to manage on my own. Thankfully, we've got a number of great babysitters to step in when needed. But my bank account wouldn't be able to support my music schedule on a regular basis. If you have a friend who is a single Mom musician, please offer them free babysitting.
In the midst of final rehearsals and preparations for Christmas Eve, we managed to sneak in a bit of caroling. Four of us sang carols at Greenfield Senior Living, much to the delight of residents (including members of our church). It was a good feeling to look around and see the residents singing along with us. I felt like we provided a personal musical moment to each of them.
Then came the big day - Christmas Eve! After last year's fiasco, I was itching to celebrate the season as much as possible. And my wish was granted in full. The evening began with ORUUC's Children's Choir singing "Every Voice That Sings" and "Do You Hear What I Hear". They did such a great job - I wanted to cry and shout and cheer! They had memorized their music, waited patiently for their turn to sing, and sang in two parts. Way to go, kids! It was a proud moment that looked kind of like this:
I love that my daughter Laura made special arrangements to get back from a trip with her grandparents so that she could sing with us. We sat on the chancel together to lead hymns for the congregation. Yay for my musical family!
After the ORUUC service, I drove over to Westside to lead two choir pieces in the Christmas Eve service. I had written my first blog post at Westside earlier in the week, so I was hoping to bring that joy of the season to inspire great music. Thanks to Linda, we had a little Christmas miracle of a soprano section. We sat the choir up on the chancel -- it felt good to have them so prominent in the service. And when they stood to sing - what a wonderful sound! I enjoyed a piece that Mary Donovan picked out that combines the choir singing "Peace Peace" with the congregation singing "Silent Night". It really came together in a pleasant way, filling the room with sound. The second piece, "Bring Us Peace" was where the Christmas miracle occurred with a fresh soprano voice that could conquer the descant part. Probably one of the best things I learned in preparing for Westside's Christmas Eve is that I can trust my instincts -- I made a few minor changes to each song and they both turned out really well!
After Westside's service, I went to find dinner. Only, I learned a very important lesson - most fast food places close early on Christmas Eve! I should plan for a packed dinner from home if I pick up three services again in the future. This year, it was lunchables (which my son calls dinnerables when you eat them for dinner) from Walgreens. Mostly, I survived the evening on Coke Zero and cookies after each service.
I ended Christmas Eve singing with Anna Thomas over at First Presbyterian in Oak Ridge. After being "in charge" all night, I was glad to be able to relax, sing, and worship myself. The special music was "Cradle Hymn" and it was amazingly sweet and gentle and beautiful. I will definitely keep that piece in my Christmas arsenal.
If you thought Christmas Eve would be the end of this post - think again! AFTER Christmas Eve, I got to reunite with some of my favorite singing buddies (Michael, Dave, and Amanda) to lead service music on Sunday 12/27. As much as I dreaded it, my favorite part of the service was singing "Let It Go" from Frozen. We ended up inviting the kids from the congregation who knew it to come sing along - and that made it so much more fun for me. THEN, for New Year's Eve, ORUUC had a coffeehouse, where another favorite singing buddy Amber convinced a group of us to get together and sing. We chose "Sound of Silence" from Paul Simon. It was hauntingly beautiful and I'm looking forward to singing with that group again soon.
And now, silence it is. I'm quietly working away at selecting pieces and leading rehearsals, waiting for school to start back in mid-January and just generally enjoying a sigh of relief from living very fully in December. Time to rest.
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