Today I conducted my last song as ward choir director in New Haven. It's been a good experience, even if I was only in for a few months. Here's a recap of what we accomplished this spring:
1. Called To Serve
We don't have many youth in our ward, but I thought it would still be nice for them to sing in Sacrament Meeting. So, I went into Young Men's and Young Women's a few times and helped them prepare to sing "Called To Serve." There were definitely more leaders than youth singing the day of the performance, but it was still great to have some youth up there! I played as energetic an accompaniment as I could for them.
What I learned: Tell all the leaders what you're planning to do. I told the Young Men's president since I'm married to him, and I told the Young Women's president, but I think other counselors would have been less confused (especially that first day) if I had warned them beforehand.
2. Easter
Our ward hadn't had a choir since November 2016, so it was exciting to get things going again. I got up my courage and asked people directly if they would sing, even people I didn't know well. Most of them said yes! That personal invitation is really effective.
We sang on Palm Sunday since Easter was the same day as General Conference, and this was our program:
Opening Hymn -- That Easter Morn
Sacrament Hymn -- He Died, the Great Redeemer Died
Scripture: John 3:16
Song: "God So Loved the World," by John Stainer performed by the ward choir (We used the John Leavitt version)
Scripture: Alma 7:11-13, possibly other Book of Mormon scriptures about the Atonement
Song: "Gethsemane," performed by special Primary group (It was included in the March 2018 Friend, and a better accompaniment is found at the Hoffmans' website.)
Scripture: Matthew 27:27-50
Song: "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown," to the Kingsfold melody, sung by congregation (I had initially been planning to have the ward choir sing Sally DeFord's gorgeous arrangement of this piece, but I didn't know if a brand new ward choir could handle it so I instead transcribed it for the whole congregation to sing.)
Scripture: John 20:1-16
Song: "Himno de la Pascua de Resurreccion" (He is Risen), sung by congregation. (We have a Spanish group in our ward so we included a song in Spanish.)
Scripture: Alma 26:16
Song: "Wonderful," arranged by Suzanne Shippen. (Someday this should make it back onto the music.lds.org website once it's fully revamped, but in the meantime Suzanne was very kind to share the music with me. Oh, it's gorgeous.)
Closing song: Christ the Lord is Risen Today
And that was the Easter program!
What I learned: The most stressful part of this for me was the children's number. Since the Primary music conductor was gone for a few Sundays and I never touched base with the subs, I held afternoon practices and sent music videos to interested kids. That worked okay, but I learned it's just easiest to work with kids on Sundays!
3. For All the Saints
Since we had a good group of men coming, I thought it would be fun to have a men-only number. So, we quickly threw together a rousing version of "For All the Saints." I never wrote down an accompaniment, so another woman in the ward conducted while I played. I kept the arrangement simple so that people could learn it quickly. It's just two-part, and either the tenors and basses are always singing the melody except for verse 4 which is minor. The number of measures of rests is arbitrary since I never wrote down the music, but to the people singing it was clear when they were supposed to come in. I suppose I ought to write it down for real sometime.
What I learned: Don't write music at midnight.
4. Heavenly Father Loves Me
I was first introduced to Rachel Mohlman and Anna Molgard's music at the Church Music Festival, and I fell in love with "Come and See" which some women in our ward performed as a small group at Christmastime. While looking through the Church Music Library I saw their lovely version of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and decided to do it since the end of April is such a lovely time of year. It wasn't as straightforward as I was expecting for the second verse, but it still came together really well.
What I learned: How to conduct in 6/8.
5. Teach Me To Walk in the Light
When my second son was a baby, I discovered that I could sing "Teach Me To Walk in the Light" to the tune of "Be Thou My Vision," and I sang it all the time to him. It took me a few years to write it down, but I finally did, and it was really great to share it with the women of my ward. Here are a few pages from it:
What I learned: It's important to write music that flows well! I actually had some awkward jumps in there that I felt bad about having them sing, so right after the performance I changed them (I read this helpful article a little too late!). I still think there are spots here and there I might know how to arrange better with fresh eyes, so I'm not quite ready to distribute it widely besides a few teaser pages. That and I am still learning about copyright. I think "Teach Me To Walk" is in the clear since it's (c) IRI 1958, but I just want to do things right.
6. The Lord Bless You and Keep You
When I was searching for a final piece for the choir to sing, I thought of this almost immediately. Then the ward music chair recommended it. And then, once I found it in a hidden music library while I was visiting Utah, I decided it was a sign that we should do it, even though I didn't want to do John Rutter music.
And it was a challenge. The last page is very complicated, and it took a lot of practice for me to keep a steady beat while helping people come in at the right time. But it came together, and it was beautiful. I really appreciated how hard the choir worked on it!
What I learned: You might want more than two weeks to learn this. Then again, people love a challenge more than they love spending weeks on the same song.
Our ward choir accomplished a lot in less than four months! It was such an honor to work with them!
Just a few other things:
I've wondered at times why I prefer singing to playing piano since I am a better pianist than singer. I think that for me it comes down to this idea of breath and vibrations, of creating something in yourself to share with others. I'm grateful I was able to work with the ward to harness our collective voices to make a beautiful sound glorifying God.
Closing song: Christ the Lord is Risen Today
And that was the Easter program!
What I learned: The most stressful part of this for me was the children's number. Since the Primary music conductor was gone for a few Sundays and I never touched base with the subs, I held afternoon practices and sent music videos to interested kids. That worked okay, but I learned it's just easiest to work with kids on Sundays!
3. For All the Saints
Since we had a good group of men coming, I thought it would be fun to have a men-only number. So, we quickly threw together a rousing version of "For All the Saints." I never wrote down an accompaniment, so another woman in the ward conducted while I played. I kept the arrangement simple so that people could learn it quickly. It's just two-part, and either the tenors and basses are always singing the melody except for verse 4 which is minor. The number of measures of rests is arbitrary since I never wrote down the music, but to the people singing it was clear when they were supposed to come in. I suppose I ought to write it down for real sometime.
What I learned: Don't write music at midnight.
4. Heavenly Father Loves Me
I was first introduced to Rachel Mohlman and Anna Molgard's music at the Church Music Festival, and I fell in love with "Come and See" which some women in our ward performed as a small group at Christmastime. While looking through the Church Music Library I saw their lovely version of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and decided to do it since the end of April is such a lovely time of year. It wasn't as straightforward as I was expecting for the second verse, but it still came together really well.
What I learned: How to conduct in 6/8.
5. Teach Me To Walk in the Light
When my second son was a baby, I discovered that I could sing "Teach Me To Walk in the Light" to the tune of "Be Thou My Vision," and I sang it all the time to him. It took me a few years to write it down, but I finally did, and it was really great to share it with the women of my ward. Here are a few pages from it:
What I learned: It's important to write music that flows well! I actually had some awkward jumps in there that I felt bad about having them sing, so right after the performance I changed them (I read this helpful article a little too late!). I still think there are spots here and there I might know how to arrange better with fresh eyes, so I'm not quite ready to distribute it widely besides a few teaser pages. That and I am still learning about copyright. I think "Teach Me To Walk" is in the clear since it's (c) IRI 1958, but I just want to do things right.
6. The Lord Bless You and Keep You
When I was searching for a final piece for the choir to sing, I thought of this almost immediately. Then the ward music chair recommended it. And then, once I found it in a hidden music library while I was visiting Utah, I decided it was a sign that we should do it, even though I didn't want to do John Rutter music.
And it was a challenge. The last page is very complicated, and it took a lot of practice for me to keep a steady beat while helping people come in at the right time. But it came together, and it was beautiful. I really appreciated how hard the choir worked on it!
What I learned: You might want more than two weeks to learn this. Then again, people love a challenge more than they love spending weeks on the same song.
Our ward choir accomplished a lot in less than four months! It was such an honor to work with them!
Just a few other things:
- This YouTube series helped me a lot with learning how to bring people in, cut people off, and add dynamics.
- I love warm-ups. I love teaching about "tall and narrow" and blend and "raise your soft palate." I really wanted to work on those with the choir. But I learned to be realistic. After all, I had choir every day in high school to practice those concepts, and ward choir was just once a week (and I certainly had no training in how to teach those concepts). So I threw those in when I could, but I learned that the most important thing is for people to sing the right notes.
- We only had a few rehearsals for each song, so I sent out recordings of me playing or singing the parts so people could practice at home. I am generally pretty self-conscious about my voice, so it was funny to hear people say they were listening to it all the time! But I sure was grateful they were practicing! It showed!
I am so grateful for all the hard work and sacrifice the choir members and choir accompanist put in these past few months. I loved the moments when I remembered to just listen to them as I was conducting. It was wonderful just basking in the glorious sound they produced. It reminded me of this quote from Betty Jeanne Chipman's Singing With Mind, Body, and Soul where she quoted her friend JoAnn Ottley:
The idea of a voice as a healer is not new. It is rather ancient, and might most accurately be classified among the valuable things we've forgotten in our quest for scientific measurement. The paradox lies now in the fact that a clear understanding of the power of the human voice to heal comes directly from the physics and our expanded concepts about the universe, which at the fundamental level could be said to be music . . . The human voice may be the best tool available for reconciling the internal and external components of our beings. It works with the breath and with vibration, the fundamental elements of our lives. It is available to all, without cost, and requires no expertise. Anyone who can groan or hum can claim the powerful benefits offered by the human voice. The body acts as something of a "sounding board," responding to the influences of the sound, and most especially the sound of the human voice.
I've wondered at times why I prefer singing to playing piano since I am a better pianist than singer. I think that for me it comes down to this idea of breath and vibrations, of creating something in yourself to share with others. I'm grateful I was able to work with the ward to harness our collective voices to make a beautiful sound glorifying God.
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