We were sad to see a few members leave for this project, but this morning the rest of us gathered at Cornerstone Mennonite Church to record Christmas songs! Perhaps multiple people suffered from a short night of sleep after some after-concert lounging at McDonalds the night before. Wendell led out in bringing us to the present – to be present. Someone said they felt encouraged. Someone said contented. Someone said exhausted – yet satisfied. Speaking for myself, I had a lot of fun today. After our concerts last week, singing Christmas hymns – which were already familiar or easy to learn – was relaxing. We practiced songs, cleaning up diction and tuning needs, and then took recordings of a number of them. Brad Zabelski joined us with his recording equipment, as well as his didgeridoo instrument, which he played for us. (I had never heard such a thing before – quite interesting!) Faith and Fonda Showalter also joined us to shoot videos of the choir. I tried to remember not to raise my hand when I made a mistake. 🙂 Near the end of our day, a downpour of rain delayed further recording. Stanley Sensnig and his family from Lehman’s Street laid out a delicious and visually appealing lunch for us! At suppertime, many of us headed to a local high school to eat a savory supper from Velma Brubaker, mother of alto Regina, and some of her family. Meaningful conversations and volleyball followed. Lots of singing and figuring out beautiful sounds and chords awaits us tomorrow…
Maria Byler, Soprano I