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The students complain, “Why do we need to be in choir?” It all stems back to my high school days back in Wisconsin. The school choir was one of the best classes; it was easy, it was laid back, all you have to do is sing… but man, I totally never knew the stress that it caused the music instructor.
Choir is an exercise in discipline, vocal control, cooperation, growing in maturity, personal presentation, following instructions, and a dozen other life skills that are unique to learning a song and following a conductor to produce music as a single voice.
Our Windermere kids say that if I didn’t require it then we wouldn’t have any choir… and they’re probably right. However, after weeks of practice they have performed beautifully. After all the hours of yelling at the boys to be quiet, working with the tenors to hear the correct pitch, coaxing the basses to increase their volume, keeping the girls from turning around and talking – we finally had our Christmas concert.
Each year the neighboring Primary and High Schools all get together in central Eleuthera for a concert. Emily was on the board this year to help orchestrate and decorate the hall. I once again fell into the role of choir director and found that despite the headache the kids really did a pretty good job at trying their best.
When you’re trying to organize 60+ students, with only a fraction who “want” to sing, you can expect a little resistance. But all in all they lined up well, following dynamics well, and even stepped and clapped together.
Their performance was superb. Its amazing how at the last minute these children can just surprise you and instantly become the image of discipline and order (minus a few of course). We sang a medley of “Angels We Have Heard On High,” “Joyful Joyful,” and “Joy to the World.” The crowd resounded with applause and the children bowed.
I’ve found it somewhat futile to explain to them that they’re singing to God and that ought to determine their attitude and performance. I’d imagine I wouldn’t have any problem enlisting their efforts if we were singing to “50-cent” or “lil’ Wayne.” And yet its my hope that this half a year’s work in music and choir will begin to reveal in their lives the disciplines of teamwork and mutual accountability and cooperation, with perhaps a extra blessing of allowing them to see what they can accomplish when they work hard at something, especially when working for the Lord.