Liberty Community Chorus

I am really liking this Liberty community chorus thing. Tonight at rehearsal I experienced some extremely lovely moments that took me to that transcendent place that only art can.

First of all, we are singing exquisitely beautiful music. It does not get any better than Robert Frost poetry set to Randall Thompson composition. The concert, which will be performed on Monday November 24 at Liberty UMC (contact me for tickets!---there is a cost, sorry) has the theme Music Down In My Soul and although not all is sacred music, all the music does hold much, much truth. Gorgeous.

Second, it truly is a community choir. In the soprano section, there are several trained voices, some wobbly older voices, some obvious church choir members (some from Liberty UMC who are very nice to me), and a few folks that simply love to sing, but haven't had much choral experience. Tonight, an older woman who is one who fits into this last category, turned around and unabashedly asked my row neighbor, who has an incredibly beautiful voice and I would consider our section leader if we had such things, what a coda was. And my row neighbor took the time to explain it to her in a very non-patronizing way. Way neat.

Thirdly, there of course is Bryan Taylor, whom I have offered accolades here before. He is technically a great choral conductor. I have sung with many, many choral conductors in my life and what sets Bryan apart is not only his great sense of humor, but also the exquisite little metaphors and similes he uses to teach us how to sing. Tonight a couple of these word pictures really touched me. One was while we were rehearsing the Schindler's List songs included in the concert--one in Hebrew, one in Yiddish, and one where we simply "ooo" while the orchestra will play. We, meaning me, are not having an easy time with pronunciation. We know the music pretty well, but we can't seem to get the words right and we sound pretty timid and unsure of ourselves. Bryan asked us how many snow skiers were present...several raised hands. He then asked those there who had skied (I have not and don't ever plan to, thank you very much) to think about what it was like the first time they skied...how hard it was to trust that if they leaned forward and got the feel, that they would not fall every time and to trust that stance was the only thing that would allow them to ski. He told us just to trust, to have confidence and sing that Hebrew. We actually were lots better after he talked about skiing.

Then, in a very beautiful small moment, while talking to the sopranos about being more ethereal in our sound on a certain piece, he said that we needed to be the wind on which the bird could rise (his exact words)...no, there was no bird in this particular song. But I just love that picture. The wing beneath my wings sort of thing, but less cliche in a way. I think that really is a good illustration for ministry...that we who are leaders should be empowering of others so that they may rise to that place where they must go, where God calls them...in fact for dss, it is a good image, that we provide motivation, and confidence, and courage and open the way for creativity to flourish in pastors and churches, being God's instruments of lift and movement in a ministry of servanthood. I like it.

I also really like the Liberty Community Chorus experience.