Spirituals

Church from Saturday's concert.  Very traditional and very beautiful!

Tonight rounded up the last of 2 evening concerts of American Music and Spirituals.  Overall, it was a really great concert!  I'm very honored to be among some great singers!  The audience reception at both concerts was really great!  There was a lot of applause from both concerts, at times I didn't think it would end!  Goodness!  The free wine at the end was nice too! :-P    

Sunday night's performance.

I will say that preparing for this concert had it's frustrating moments, but overall, the attitude was very chill and very relaxed, and I didn't feel as "straight-laced" for this concert as I feel at others.  I think what helped is the type of music we were performing.  Sure we can all sing opera or art songs, and sing them well.  But it's another thing to sing music that you grew up with, or music that brings back memories (both good and not so good), or music that inspires you--which is exactly what these spirituals did.  It felt like each singer was singing their piece straight from the heart, which is incredibly special.  It was good to be a part of that moment.

Of course accurate intonation and rhythms are important, but if there is no heart, no feelings, it's just a pretty sound.  For instance, a guy sang "Precious Lord" which is very dear to me since I sang it at my Grandma's funeral two years ago.  Yes the singing was good, but the emotion behind it was so real, it triggered some suppressed memories, and I had to wipe some tears away.  On the flip side, another guy sang "Children go where I send thee" which reminded me of an elementary school concert I did back in the day. :)

But, anyways, it was a great concert!  I was very proud to be a part of it, and very proud of my fellow singers!