Thursday, October 2, 2008

Christmas Program

I am so excited to finally be able to use "Silent Night." I had the choir sing through it on Sunday, and it went pretty well. I keep forgetting that I know the music so well because I've listened to it hundreds of times, it is my own creation, and I shouldn't expect other people to easily hear the harmonies that I've put in the music. Hopefully, they're not impossible, and I don't mind if they're a bit hard, a bit unfamiliar. 

I was afraid that I'd waited all this time to do it (I first started working on it last Christmas), and then wouldn't get to because I'd been released. I did get a new calling, one that I've wanted for a long time (a teacher), but I also got to stay with the choir for now. Happy happy! 

I am also planning on singing "Joseph's Prayer" by Ruth Elaine Schramm. I'd never heard it before, but it is a great song about Joseph and his efforts to be a good father to baby Jesus. I think the two songs go very well together, myself. 

Teaching a class, and leading a choir, have shown me some similarities that I never knew were there. As choir director, I try to lead the choir in a way that will bring harmony to the music, and will enable the music to teach the spirit of the song to those listening. I've found that I'm trying to do the same thing as a teacher - lead a discussion, making all the points of the discussion and lesson harmonize to enable the Spirit to teach what He would have taught that day. For me, it is an interesting idea, and clarifies my goal for both of the callings that I have - to allow the Spirit to teach.