First Rehearsal

Over the summer, I had read through hundreds of new choral scores, talked with other church choir directors, attended other church services, explored ideas about improving worship, met with the pastor and the pianist to discuss the fall services, ordered materials, studied voice, collected vocal warm up exercises, and bought my previous voice teacher's new book. I had charted a plan to improve vocal techniques, especially targeting the more mature singer, and practiced!

Still, I felt not quite ready for our first rehearsal of the church year. I wanted desperately to make our time together fun and enjoyable as well as productive. Our opening pieces were a bit more challenging than I usually select for season start-up, but they went well with what the Pastor would be preaching about. It would be a challenging year since our pianist had given his notice and we would be looking for a new accompanist.

I gathered my lesson plan, music folder, CD, and hymnal and boldly entered the sanctuary. People were already gathering, and there was a certain buzz in the air, an excitement I hoped would last a long time. I was delighted to see so many people - both last year's members and a few new faces. We had to set up some more chairs - how delightful! We stretched to an upbeat version of Psalm 23, buzz lip trills, stretched our vocal cords, and sang some thirds, all in preparation for diving into our opening song of the season.

The time flew by. Before I knew it, an hour and a half had evaporated. It felt good to be working on music again, learning notes, getting the sense of the song, feeling the music, becoming the song. It is a good thing to sing praise unto the Lord! Especially with people you know and love.