Dear friends,
I look so forward to our gatherings on Saturday to celebrate Christmas Eve! What a richly joyful and reflective worship service we have to share with our congregation and community. Please remember that your friends and families can hear the service on KFOR 1240 radio (or its online stream) at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The television broadcast will appear on FOX 42 Lincoln and Omaha and Fox Nebraska (KFXL) at midnight on Christmas Eve.
As a gentle reminder, we have agreed to be in seats in the choir robes-- dawning our robes and with all music organized in service order by 6:30 p.m. so that we can spend some gentle focused time preparing for the 7:00 service. We will then have a light meal together between services, repeating the lessons and carols at 9:00 p.m.
Thank you all for your continued service to the music ministry of our church. It is such a blessing to be with you each and every day-- but ESPECIALLY in this season!
Grace and peace,
TT
Monday, February 6, 2012
Christmas week! 12.19.2011
Dear friends,
It is impossible to thank you adequately for so fully offering your bodies, minds, spirits, and voices to our Abendmusik celebration yesterday. There was such depth to your singing, and such connection to your wonder-filled message. It is a blessing, indeed, to share in such experiences with you. If you had fun and enjoyed the music, the good news is we have an opportunity to get together to sing much of it again on Christmas Eve!
Christmas eve:
Everyone from Plymouth Choir and Abendmusik Chorus is invited to sing the 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. services on Christmas Eve. A light meal is served between services. We will recycle and reuse mostly music from our concert repertoire, but we have a few different carols to add to our mix. Here is the official schedule of what's ahead:
Christmas morning:
This year Christmas morning falls on a Sunday. Many of you have expressed concern that the choir is scheduled to sing. Please know this is not intended as a punishment. There is no expectation that many from the choir or congregation will be in worship following the overflowing experience of Christmas Eve. Please know that if you have another place you are joyful and comforted to be on Christmas Sunday morning, you should without any question be there. For those, like me, who would otherwise be alone, whose family is far away, and whose spouse will be at work, you are most welcome to come to sing in worship as we usually do on Sundays. We will have a quiet, non-extravagant, simple gathering around the story and songs of Jesus' birth. Allow our gathering at First-Plymouth to be sanctuary if you seek it. Do not feel a responsibility to leave other sanctuaries to make it to sing in choir. : ) We will meet casually at 10 a.m.
Into the new year!
We do not have rehearsal on December 28. We will sing as Plymouth Choir in worship on Sunday, January 1, meeting at 9:45 to prepare and sing WALK IN THE LIGHT-- again, come if you can; don't stress about it. Our next rehearsal as Plymouth Choir will then be Wednesday, January 4.
Abendmusik Chorus resumes on February 1 with rehearsal, and we will be in touch soon with more details when your music packets are available.
Grace and peace, and blessings on this holy week ahead...
It is impossible to thank you adequately for so fully offering your bodies, minds, spirits, and voices to our Abendmusik celebration yesterday. There was such depth to your singing, and such connection to your wonder-filled message. It is a blessing, indeed, to share in such experiences with you. If you had fun and enjoyed the music, the good news is we have an opportunity to get together to sing much of it again on Christmas Eve!
Christmas eve:
Everyone from Plymouth Choir and Abendmusik Chorus is invited to sing the 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. services on Christmas Eve. A light meal is served between services. We will recycle and reuse mostly music from our concert repertoire, but we have a few different carols to add to our mix. Here is the official schedule of what's ahead:
- Wednesday rehearsal, 7:00-9:30 p.m. We begin in the choir room, then have a break and a complete run-through with all the readings from 8:30-9:30.
- Christmas Eve (Saturday) services at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. (warm-up at 6:00 p.m.)
Christmas morning:
This year Christmas morning falls on a Sunday. Many of you have expressed concern that the choir is scheduled to sing. Please know this is not intended as a punishment. There is no expectation that many from the choir or congregation will be in worship following the overflowing experience of Christmas Eve. Please know that if you have another place you are joyful and comforted to be on Christmas Sunday morning, you should without any question be there. For those, like me, who would otherwise be alone, whose family is far away, and whose spouse will be at work, you are most welcome to come to sing in worship as we usually do on Sundays. We will have a quiet, non-extravagant, simple gathering around the story and songs of Jesus' birth. Allow our gathering at First-Plymouth to be sanctuary if you seek it. Do not feel a responsibility to leave other sanctuaries to make it to sing in choir. : ) We will meet casually at 10 a.m.
Into the new year!
We do not have rehearsal on December 28. We will sing as Plymouth Choir in worship on Sunday, January 1, meeting at 9:45 to prepare and sing WALK IN THE LIGHT-- again, come if you can; don't stress about it. Our next rehearsal as Plymouth Choir will then be Wednesday, January 4.
Abendmusik Chorus resumes on February 1 with rehearsal, and we will be in touch soon with more details when your music packets are available.
Grace and peace, and blessings on this holy week ahead...
Welcome All Wonders! 12.17.2011
Dear friends,
Thank you for so generously, graciously sharing so much time with the choir this week as we have moved forward with our intensive preparations of this beautiful, magical Christmas concert. We have the gift of a Saturday to rest our bodies, minds, spirits, and voices before we find our way back together to share all of our individual and collective efforts with our Abendmusik community. Even on a third consecutive evening of singing, you came with abundant energy and focus tonight-- thank you all so much. We did struggle with pitch-- almost on contact we would sing a half-step low. However, we always held tune with one another across the ensemble-- we didn't pull apart. This is a sure symptom of our fatigue which caused production problems as we tried to make things happen, rather than just allowing the sound to sigh and spin. As frustrating as falling flat together is, it is also something to celebrate-- that we TOGETHER maintained our tuning even as we fell down in pitch. If some rest and restored energy can fix our production problems and keep us on pitch, we know our aural sense as a group will keep us beautifully entwined across the choir loft! : ) And, more importantly by far, we are beginning to know our music well enough to allow it to have meaning and commitment to expression. What a terrific, joyful experience we are beginning to have even with a very challenging arrangement of WAKE, AWAKE. The last few times those last 3 pages were bubbly and effervescent, and boy could they get labored and heavy if we let them... When we start to trust ourselves and one another to be easy, free, and refreshed with generous cleansing breaths, we allow the music to flow, the spirit is set free, and our voices become an instrument of the message! What a blessing to be a part of some of that transformational work this evening! : ) Every piece on the concert has a deep, rich message, and our hard work these last few days will enable us to bring meaning and heart to those messages.
Here are a few gentle practical reminders:
1. We will assemble at 2:45 on Sunday in the choir room. Jeremy and I have made an attempt to move our low basses to the center of the choir, so please do not be surprised if your chair is an a new place. We hope this will help us all anchor ourselves upon a rich foundation! : )
2. Concert dress is solid bright color, longsleeve shirt (no tie or coat) and black pants or long skirt. Please avoid fragrances or fancy jewelry or accessories.
3. Be certain that you have a black folder and that your music is gathered and organized before our Sunday warm-up.
4. Sunday morning we will sing WAKE AWAKE and WELCOME ALL WONDERS for 10:30 worship. We can meet in the choir room at 9:30. If any Abendmusik Chorus folks would like to come sing with us, you are most welcome. Please just RSVP via e-mail if you'd like to come. This will give us a few more opportunities to sing some of our more intrepid pieces together.
5. Keep on practicing! : )
Thank you all for the gift of your time, talent, energy, and enthusiasm towards our Christmas celebration, and know that I am grateful for all that we will share together and with our family and friends on Sunday.
Grace and peace and many thanks for all you are and all you do!
Thank you for so generously, graciously sharing so much time with the choir this week as we have moved forward with our intensive preparations of this beautiful, magical Christmas concert. We have the gift of a Saturday to rest our bodies, minds, spirits, and voices before we find our way back together to share all of our individual and collective efforts with our Abendmusik community. Even on a third consecutive evening of singing, you came with abundant energy and focus tonight-- thank you all so much. We did struggle with pitch-- almost on contact we would sing a half-step low. However, we always held tune with one another across the ensemble-- we didn't pull apart. This is a sure symptom of our fatigue which caused production problems as we tried to make things happen, rather than just allowing the sound to sigh and spin. As frustrating as falling flat together is, it is also something to celebrate-- that we TOGETHER maintained our tuning even as we fell down in pitch. If some rest and restored energy can fix our production problems and keep us on pitch, we know our aural sense as a group will keep us beautifully entwined across the choir loft! : ) And, more importantly by far, we are beginning to know our music well enough to allow it to have meaning and commitment to expression. What a terrific, joyful experience we are beginning to have even with a very challenging arrangement of WAKE, AWAKE. The last few times those last 3 pages were bubbly and effervescent, and boy could they get labored and heavy if we let them... When we start to trust ourselves and one another to be easy, free, and refreshed with generous cleansing breaths, we allow the music to flow, the spirit is set free, and our voices become an instrument of the message! What a blessing to be a part of some of that transformational work this evening! : ) Every piece on the concert has a deep, rich message, and our hard work these last few days will enable us to bring meaning and heart to those messages.
Here are a few gentle practical reminders:
1. We will assemble at 2:45 on Sunday in the choir room. Jeremy and I have made an attempt to move our low basses to the center of the choir, so please do not be surprised if your chair is an a new place. We hope this will help us all anchor ourselves upon a rich foundation! : )
2. Concert dress is solid bright color, longsleeve shirt (no tie or coat) and black pants or long skirt. Please avoid fragrances or fancy jewelry or accessories.
3. Be certain that you have a black folder and that your music is gathered and organized before our Sunday warm-up.
4. Sunday morning we will sing WAKE AWAKE and WELCOME ALL WONDERS for 10:30 worship. We can meet in the choir room at 9:30. If any Abendmusik Chorus folks would like to come sing with us, you are most welcome. Please just RSVP via e-mail if you'd like to come. This will give us a few more opportunities to sing some of our more intrepid pieces together.
5. Keep on practicing! : )
Thank you all for the gift of your time, talent, energy, and enthusiasm towards our Christmas celebration, and know that I am grateful for all that we will share together and with our family and friends on Sunday.
Grace and peace and many thanks for all you are and all you do!
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