Rachel and I joined with our amazing Team Extreme choir as we worked hard to pull off another successful fireside program, this one centered on Christmas. We had four weeks to pull it all together. We worked on several numbers, but focused most of our time on rehearsing a beautiful, powerful song entitled "It is He" by Ivoga Green and Niu Syddall, who are from Auckland. My friend Mele is a friend of theirs, and got permission from them to perform the number, with the promise that we would do it justice. I believe we did.
During our final rehearsal, we were joined by none other than Ivoga and Niu themselves, who drove all the way from Auckland (8 hours!) to listen to our choir and give us some coaching. Their expertise and fine-tuning were just what we needed, not only on the number they composed, but for many of the other selections. We burned the midnight oil that night, and sang 'til our voices were tired and our minds weary, but our spirits were filled.
The performance was exhilarating and tender and spiritual and joyful, all at once. It was the perfect way to begin Christmas, as a great reminder of what the season is all about. I'll forever count my blessings for the opportunity to participate in this choir.
I had my camera ready to take photos on performance night. We looked snazzy in our white and black, with festive red accents. I was asked to play prelude music on the piano at the last minute (the other pianist went for one last quick rehearsal with some of the singers). Needless to say, no photos! :( Shoot. Once the performance ended, there was so much mingling and scattering that I didn't think to take any pics.
Here's one photo I found of my friend Mele, with Ivoga, Toni (one of our strong sopranos), and Niu:
There's so much talent there, I can hardly stand it!
We all decided that one performance just wasn't enough, so a week later, we had two more casual performances. The first was at a local Assisted Living center. Rachel and Julia both sang with me at this performance. We stayed afterward for several moments, visiting with and hugging the residents, wishing them Merry Christmas.
Singing to those older folks made me deeply miss singing with the Heartbeats in Utah. I can't help but share this photo from Heartbeats last year -- our program was entitled "A Rock-n-Roll Christmas" -- which we performed about 20 times in two weeks. I love these ladies! I missed you so much this year, and hope that it was a successful Heartbeats season.
Our last performance was at the local hospital (where Steve works), walking through the different wards singing carols. We were combined with other groups, which was a little awkward at first, but the experience was still enriching. I loved singing on the pediatric floor the most, and seeing the happiness on the faces of the kids and their parents.
Here's one last photo, outside the hospital after the performance. This picture is probably about a third of the total number of choir members, but is a fun representation of our group. You can see that we are a goofy bunch of characters, but we love singing, and we love each other.
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