I sang with the band at church for the annual Variety Show. It was terrific! It was hard to hear how we sounded, so I'm hoping that we can get an mp3 of it. But we were told by people that it was amazing and awesome. So, I'd imagine it was good. ;-)
I put pictures on my Flickr account of us performing. Since they show our faces, they are marked private for friends and family; so, you'll need to log in to see them. They are pretty much what you'd expect people singing with microphones to look like....
... but you can see my fishy dress. And my jewelry (bracelet and earrings) that I bought on Saturday (the day of the performance) to go with my dress.
I was also the official photographer for the event. Yes, me in my dress and heels. Not quite the usual photographer outfit, but much more fun, I thought. I got assistance by someone so that I could have pics of me singing with the group. I gave her a brief lesson and away she went! I've had a lot of fun tweaking the lighting on the photos and making a powerpoint presentation of the good ones. I even put captions on all of the photos in the presentation that lists the people, the name of their act, and the original creator/performer of the piece. :-)
Posted by danielle at 05:45 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Happy Easter everyone!
As the song goes, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Alleluia!
It has been a good Lenten season. I did read my bible and prayed almost every day. I've resolved to keep up the pattern even now that we are at Easter. I have tried to read the entire bible in the past but kept getting stuck; I'd start at the beginning and get weighed down in the old testament. This time, I'm going to focus on the New Testament and work through that.
I thought maybe I'd take my camera to church and take some photos of the Easter Flowers, we'll see. If so, I'll post them here sometime after lunch.
In the meantime - Happy Easter and Happy Spring!
UPDATED: Here are the pics I took.
and in large
Posted by danielle at 07:14 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
I don't think I've mentioned here what ended up happening in my quest for a church. First, I tried out a United Church of Christ (UCC) church that is nearby. It was small, but the people were friendly and I liked the minister. However, the choir was about 5 people and didn't fit my desire for a choir with a substantial number of people that could sing songs with separate parts.
The next church that I went to for a while, including Maundy Thursday and Easter services was a good fit. I liked the minister a lot and the choir was big enough and seemed happy with their director and sounded good. But the minister ended up leaving over the issue of whether or not the church was going to be open and affirming. I've been through the search for a minister and the interim ministers that come and preach while the congregation is searching...
...and I just decided that I couldn't go through all of that again.
So, I tried out another church in St. Paul. It has been the church that I've been going to now for a while. I was initially attracted to the friendly and welcoming congregation and minister. I didn't get to hear the choir for a week or so, because they happened to not sing on the Sundays when I was attending. But when I heard them, I could tell that they were a good choir. On one of the Sundays when the choir hadn't sang, I got the impression that the people sitting around me were some choir members. So, I asked them about the choir and they had nothing but good things to say about the director and the choir.
Now, this was all happening just as summer was approaching and the choir was disbanding for the summer. So, when fall came around, I ended up joining the choir.
It has been a really good experience so far. The director is picking out pieces that are within our abilities when it comes to difficulty in singing. She spends quite a bit of time making sure that the nuances of a piece sound really good. At first, I thought that the music wasn't hard enough, but you know, I like this level of music, I've decided. When you are learning a new piece of music per week, it is nice to be able to feel like you've really mastered it. And that instead of having sections of the song where you don't really sing or aren't sure of your part, you know the whole thing really well. That is what used to happen in choir in school, you got to the point where you knew every note and how to pronounce every vowel at just the right volume to sound perfect. But that isn't the sort of thing that church choirs usually have time to work on. Usually, it is a mad rush to learn the basics of the piece and you learn certain key points, but miss out on parts of the rest of it.
My only complaint at this point, is that we sing in a choir loft that is so distanced from the congregation that it is hard to feel like I am connecting with them. Really, if I don't dance around the issue, I'd admit that we aren't connecting with them. At least not emotionally. That is one thing that my last choir director complimented me on. Also, I've had numerous people in my last congregation tell me that they watched me (me!) for facial expressions and to get the meaning of the music. I felt honored and humbled, yet proud (can you be humble and proud at the same time?), that they would do that. I always made a point to look out into the congregation as we were singing (and try not to lose my place in the music) and use facial expression to indicate the meaning of the music, so it was special for me to hear that my efforts were making a difference. And I miss that. There is talk that the congregation will leave the current church building someday (who knows when) and move to a smaller one, because there just isn't enough membership to warrant and maintain such a huge building. If that is the case, I think we, as a choir, will be closer to the rest of the congregation and will be more connected. At least, I hope so.
For now, we just sing with energy and precision (most of the time) and hope that they are hearing the message. I think they are, and well, I know that God hears us, and that, after all, is the point.
Posted by danielle at 04:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Yesterday morning, I spent some time sitting in the sun and singing to music.
Mom actually took this picture of me today, but replace the laptop with my journal, and you can imagine about what I looked like yesterday.
Yesterday, I started off my music listening with Ginny Owens - Without Condition. Her music really speaks to me at a very deep, faith-based level. And better yet, we both have a similar range, so I can sing almost all of the songs without straining at all.
Next, I sang along to a compilation CD that we used for practicing when I was in the Praise Chorus at my church back in MA. I jotted down the titles of the songs and some of the lyrics in my journal.
I attached a beeded bookmark to my journal that I made as my craft project at my church's Women's Retreat a couple of years ago.
I like how the rays of the sun shining through the beeds refracted and also created interesting shadows.
I am not quite up to full-blown storytelling yet, but I wanted to share some of the other pictures I've taken lately.
Mom gave me this angel and I hung it up in the window yesterday.
This morning, HB left before sunrise, and he looked pretty sharp and sexy with his blue shirt, red tie and matching cufflinks, chunky watch, and live strong bracelet.
And the sunrise this morning, was comforting.
Mom and I are going to go for a walk today, but right now, I'm enjoying the sun on my face and legs and am listening to Joshua Kadison's album.
Posted by danielle at 09:17 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Today was the last Sunday our choir sang for the season. Yup, no choir during the summer, we have "special music" instead (i.e. solos, duets, small groups). So, today was the last day of practice and singing as a group until the choir reconvenes in September.
I'm going to miss them.
A lot.
I have never been in a choir like this one, and I doubt I'll ever find one like it again.
It is hard to pinpoint what made it so unique, because part of it is a feeling. A fellowship, if you will. The kind of community that forms because of a shared love of music and love of singing praises to God.
A big part of it is our director. She has a beautiful spirit about her. She is the kind of Christian I strive to become, supportive and understanding of all people, a remarkable relationship with God, a loving/teasing relationship with her husband, and grace under pressure, to name just part of them. Musically, she is phenomenal.
But it is not so unusual for me to work with musically talented directors. Heck, one of my former choir directors was an accomplished organist in addition to being a choir director, and would play technically challenging pieces while directing us with eyebrow movements and head bobs.
I think what really stands out is how she helps us share the emotion and message of a music piece with the congregation. Sometimes, we can get so caught up in the details. But she will bring us back to the point of why we are singing. "Think about the words. Think about this message," she would say.
It isn't just the quality of the choir. Although it is notable that almost every person in the choir is a strong soloist or duetist in his/her own right. I have been in choirs with a lot of good voices. In fact, part of how I usually end up choosing a church is the quality of the choir. Enough voices on the 4 parts, good blend, harmonies, some sense of precision about a piece.
And this wasn't the choir with the most energy. That was the choir I was in back in Maryland. Back where I had difficulty finding the right UCC church, so I ended up attending a United Methodist church. Talk about a denomination that loves their music! The Methodists have got that down. That choir really appreciated a more gospel/contemporary Christian/high energy style of singing.
So, I think it comes back to the community and the spirituality.
Even though I'd have to draaaaaaaaaag myself out of bed extra early on a Sunday morning to make it to the 1.5 hour rehearsal that took place 2 hours before church started... once I was there. Wow! We'd joke around, and laugh. And sing really tough pieces. And get lost during the sight reading, and we'd laugh at our mistakes. And we'd pick apart the hard parts where we'd just fallen apart, and tease the tenors. And the tenors would tease us back. And we'd sing for a while. And we'd tease the sopranos. And we'd sing for a while. Then they'd tease us back. And the sopranos would tease the basses. And we'd sing for a while. And the basses would get their moment to tease the sopranos...
... and you get the idea.
And our director would smile and laugh and let us have our fun. And then we'd go back to trying to make beautiful music.
And most of the time we would.
And sometimes we'd find out that while we were singing a piece for the congregation, more than one of us had gotten chills.
And sometimes we'd all get so emotional, that we'd get tears in our eyes and would be trying not to give into crying... because, Dang It, it is hard to sing when you're crying!
And that may be at the heart of what I will miss the most.
Posted by danielle at 08:37 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
I was going to wait and post this picture on Easter, because it partly speaks of Easter to me. You see, it has a lot of the right elements.
Water
Green
A glowing white flower
Life, birth
White in the midst of dark.
Hope & promise in the midst of despair
Spiritually, it feels right.
But emotionally, it doesn't quite fit. Overall, it feels too dark, and not celebratory enough.
Therefore, I'm posting it today, in this in-between day.
My feelings about today may or may not be in line with how the church (universal) would like me to interpret the significance of today. But one of the great things about Christianity in the United Church of Christ is getting to interpret the bible in my own way and not being told how to think or feel about it (and not needing to worry about if my thoughts are 'in line' or 'out of line' with someone else's interpretation of the bible).
In trying to interpret what today may mean, I have been thinking about the first Christians, the disciples, and I've been trying to imagine how they might have felt. I imagine that having just seen Jesus crucified, they were likely in mourning and were terrified that they might be next.
However, I cannot identify with those feelings. Since I know the resurrection is around the bend, I always feel like this in-between day is not as sad as Maundy Thursday and not as celebratory as Easter. Thus, it never feels quite like a true day of mourning to me. It feels, well, in-between.
I hope this makes sense. I know a fair number of my friends (and some family) are not Christian, so hopefully, you know enough of the story to understand what I'm trying to say.
Sometimes, more than others, I struggle between writing and photography to simply document my own thoughts and feelings and writing as a way to have a conversation with you.
(Note: I took this pic with a Sony Cyber-shot and did not photoshop it at all.)
Posted by danielle at 10:13 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack