Rehearsal Day

We have been practicing with the Sarasota Stake Choir to participate in a multi-denominational choir concert tomorrow.  The concert will be at the St. Boniface Episcopal Church on Siesta Key with three other choirs participating.  Each choir will sing individually and then the combined choirs will sing three songs under the direction of Ryan Murphy, the associate director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

This morning, he presented two seminars that Renee wanted to attend.  The first was on conducting techniques and the second on the choir.  Both were interesting, but I told Renee that she owes me a baseball game in return for my going to the seminars.

In the afternoon, we rehearsed with the other choirs the three combined songs.  The other choirs are from a Baptist church, a Methodist church, and a local high school.  Our choir is the largest, but the high school choir is probably the best of the four.

Bro. Murphy is an excellent conductor.  He has a good sense of humor and obvious technical skills.  I found it interesting how he worked with us to try to get us on pitch and pronouncing the words (especially the vowels) correctly.  He commented in the morning seminar that 90% of the Tabernacle Choir practice time is spent on attaining the correct pitch.

This evening he presented a fireside at the Sarasota chapel on the Tabernacle Choir.  He spoke about the influence the choir's singing has had on individuals and shared letters from people who had felt the Spirit as they listened to the Choir.

It was a long day, but an uplifting day.