Our Christmas Cantata was amazing. I’m kind of sad to have it be all over!
We met Christmas morning and had a short practice right before the meeting. I was grateful for the practice- especially for “Joy to the World”. I’d been practicing singing with the choir, but I hadn’t practiced much turned around facing the Congregation. It was easy to forget when we were slowing down the counts at the end of some of the verses, and waiting for the intermediate music to play! Thankfully for the performance, I didn’t make any mistakes.
The choir sounded wonderful. It started out with “Far, Far Away”, a variation of the song, “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains”, and then we sang, “Be it Unto Us”. I hadn’t expected to get emotional on this song, but I did. A couple of the choir members told me that they had to stop watching me, because they were afraid they might start crying too!
After a congregational hymn, “Angels We Have Heard on High”, we sang “Wise Men Still Seek Him”. This has always been such a touching song, and again I got a little emotional. I was really wondering how I was going to turn around and be able to lead “Joy to the World” without crying!
Thankfully, it worked out fine, because as the congregation stood to sing, I realized that my organist couldn’t see me with the bishopric in the way! I tried to find a different spot, more in the middle to stand, but it was still difficult for her to see me. I finally moved to the far right, and had to laugh when I almost couldn’t see the pianist anymore! With one more funny hop onto a step so that the Congregation could see me from way in the back, there was enough laughter, that I wasn’t too worried about crying anymore.
The highlight of the whole program was singing “Joy to the World”. This was the chance for the Congregation to join with the choir in praising the Lord, all set to a powerful piano/organ accompaniment. I loved the power and the spirit that I felt as we sang. It wasn’t exactly like the version that I can envision (because it would be fully orchestrated!), but the power and feeling were there, and it was absolutely wonderful. I wish I could have recorded it, but I don’t think any recording could have captured the feeling that was there.
That was one of my last goals for the year- to write an arrangement of “Joy to the World”. I can’t tell you how cool it is to have worked so hard on this goal, and have it turn out so well. This year my main goal is just to learn orchestration. I’ve already set up my office better, and started listening to lots of orchestral music. I’m thinking about making some videos of my progress- but you can’t laugh — okay! =)
I hope everyone is enjoying these last few days of the year. It’s been a wonderful year. I love looking forward to what a new year will bring. What will YOU be doing this next year? The first step in helping your dreams come true- is dreaming big- and sharing them! Do you want to know what my biggest dream is right now? It’s to lead the Tabernacle Choir & Congregation & Temple Square Orchestra singing my version of “Joy to the World”. Okay that was kind of scary to say out loud… but then that’s how dreams happen, right?
Happy New Year! =)