A New Year, New Songs, New Challenges

We had our first choir practice of the year last night. It went very well. We started on some new music and discussed our upcoming Easter Cantata.

We started out with an old Vestal Goodman classic, "God Walks the Dark Hills." I have always loved this song and like I mentioned in my last post, I had a vision of our choir singing it. That vision came to light last night after I purchased a copy of the sheet music online and then presented it to the choir during practice. After a little gentle persuasion, Marilyn agreed to sing the verses while the rest of the choir joined in on the chorus. I thought it sounded fantastic, especially for our first try. I know Marilyn will do a great job on the solo parts.

Next, I had them try one of the songs that my previous choir (House Mountain) used to sing. It is a song made popular by my favorite group, the Kingsmen Quartet, called "I'll Live Again." What can I say but WOW! The choir really picked up on it quickly and we even opened up the service with it last night. I normally work on songs for several weeks before trying them in the service but I felt they knew if well enough to go ahead last night, and they did. I think it will become one of our favorites.

Finally, I introduced the Easter Cantata that I had picked out for this year. I got a few weird looks when I told them that the first song was, "Amen." But, I think everyone came around as we listened to the CD and sang along some. It is a well known song and Sis. Carol will be doing the lead parts while the rest of the choir backs her up. I know she is a little nervous about doing it right but I also know she will do an outstanding job. I don't expect us to sound like one of those 100-member choirs or anything, I just want us to have fun and spread the Gospel.

As you know, I was in a dilemma over purchasing the cantata books. I was pleased that most everyone agreed to pay for their own copy. Last night I went ahead and ordered 20-copies from Lifeway. They gave me a huge discount, only $4.76 a piece plus shipping! So it was just a total of $106.20. That's much better than the $126 that I thought it would be. I'm excited about getting into this new book and seeing how well the choir will sound. Only 13-more practices until Easter! YIKES!!!