The tale of three concerts

Over the weekend I went to three concerts...two as a spectator and one as a participant.
Saturday I attended Lex de Azevedo's "Gloria" with Kim, one of my old Snow College roomies. Thank you Facebook, for bringing us back together again after 13 years! But the poor girl had no idea that this would be such an emotional evening for me. It was the first time that I had ever watched "Gloria" from the audience and I'm afraid my eyes started tearing up from the opening notes. The music was gorgeous! A couple of the soloists were ones that I hadn't seen since we sang "Gloria" in Jerusalem and the memories just flooded over me. The combination of the wonderful spirit of the music and the fact that I wasn't up singing with them meant that by about 2 songs in I was almost sobbing. Tears rolling down my cheeks. I was having to make a conscious effort to not make any noise, I was crying so hard. And I was wishing mightily that I had thought to put on waterproof mascara that morning! Sweet Kim kept me supplied with kleenexes.

Sunday I sang with the Sally Bytheway Chorale at the Assembly Hall. Our concert was to start right after the First Presidency's Christmas message. Which meant that although traffic was light seeing as all the hordes at the Conference Center were already in their seats, parking was scarce. I parked a good 4 LONG blocks away and hiked to temple square in my skirt and high heels....in 18 degree weather! Brrr! Have you ever sung in the Assembly Hall? Or been to a concert there? It's an amazing building, but especially for sound. I always enjoy singing there. But Sunday night, unfortunately, I had next to no voice due to a lovely little cold Brandon brought home and spread around. And the coughing! Our concert was being recorded for use on various church radio channels and I was panicked that I was going to cough in the middle of a song! But I couldn't just claim illness and miss the concert because I play the chimes in 2 of our songs and my part was rather crucial. So. I sucked on a cough drop through the majority of the concert. I did more lip synching than actual singing in the hopes that I wouldn't have to take any deep breaths that would trigger an uncontrollable coughing fit. And I made pretty facial expressions to hopefully fool the audience into thinking all was well. :) And overall the concert did go VERY well. And I did enjoy it...just not as much as if I had actually been able to sing. Here's hoping I have my voice back and those nasty coughs gone by the next concert this coming weekend!And then Monday evening Rebekah sang in a concert with her school's music department. My favorite part, however, was actually at the early rehearsal that morning that I helped chaperone. It was a rehearsal filled with chaos. Imagine 300 teenagers spread throughout the auditorium...all talking to their friends, calling out to people across the room, laughing, being silly as teenagers do. And because it was snowing outside, the music teacher who was in charge of this whole rehearsal, was late. Stuck in traffic. She finally showed up and got the reluctant and chatty teenagers into some kind of order so they could practice their big number. She's yelling as loud as she can to get their attention. Because there are 300 of them, remember? And they won't stop talking...as teenagers do. But finally she throws her arms into the air and all the sudden the talking stops. The bell choir starts the opening notes of the song. And then 300 pairs of eyes focus on the director and 300 voices start singing...

"Still, still, still,
One can hear the falling snow.
For all is hushed,
The world is sleeping,
Holy star its vigil keeping.
Still, still, still,
One can hear the falling snow."

And wow. Cause all the sudden things ARE still. And it really IS snowing outside. The contrast between the noisy chaos and the quiet, sweet song was amazing. And yes, as soon as the song ended the kids immediately started talking and once again chaos reigned. But for just a few minutes everything was so peaceful. And it made me think about the craziness of this Christmas season. That if we just stop for a minute and be still.... That's when you really can focus on what this season is all about.