The Adventure Continues

As I sit here listening to Handel’s “Messiah” on public radio, I am struck by how many of the pieces in that work are familiar to me. More than that I am struck by how many of those I have sung in a choir or some kind at some time in the past.
I am not musically trained, although I have been given a gift for reading music, and have at least a form of absolute pitch. I’ve always been active in choirs in high school and in communities, and enjoy singing with others.
Some of the great memories for me are those where I performed, along with others, such as the “Hallelujah Chorus”, “And the Glory”, and others from The Messiah. I also have fond memories of singing “O Holy Night” and other Christmas music along with non-holiday music such as “The Lord’s Prayer”, “Walk in Jerusalem”, and others. One year, our high school choir performed Handel’s “The Heavens are Telling”…a difficult piece at best for a high school choir. If I remember right, Ardyth Trenary (we called her “Trigger” because she liked horses) was the vocal teacher that year. She stayed only one year, but we did stuff that year (like a Broadway production) we’d never done before (or since).
When we were in southern Kansas, I helped organize a community choir that performed for several years during the Christmas holiday. That was probably one of the more enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had, and I relish those memories.
I’d like to connect with a choir just once more in my lifetime…nothing fancy, no opera singers, no hot dog performers; just ordinary folks who have some musical ability who want to get together with a conductor and see what they can produce.
The family will be here in another hour or so and we’ll spend the rest of the day together in warmth and comfort. As my lovely wife wrote on the bottom of the Christmas card she gave me this morning, “And the adventure continues!”