Sunday, January 30, 2011

My Story About Mr. B


This past Sunday we had our first rehearsal for the Southwest Area Lutheran Chorale, or swalc as I like to call it. It went pretty well, but I’ve no doubt my directing style was a bit of a shock to the new comers. Unlike most church choir directors, I try not to take too much time hammering out individual parts. I like to jump right in and focus on technique as soon as possible. I learned this from a certain person we shall call “Mr. B.”

Mr. B directs the church choir where I am currently a member. Through the years I’ve sung in many church choirs, most of which had very small and (no offense) weak choirs with directors whose main goal was to get through a piece from start to finish without losing anyone along the way.

Then we moved to New Ulm – the hub of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. New Ulm has two very large WELS churches, a WELS grade school, a WELS High School, and is also the home to our WELS college of ministry. Consequently, this town is populated in large part by professors, teachers, and preachers as well as a great many children of professors, teachers, and preachers.

It didn’t take me long to see that the ethical, intellectual, and musical standard here is far higher than anywhere else I have ever lived. I’m not bragging. I’m just telling it as I see it. New Ulm people are amazingly talented.

Nowhere was this more evident to me than in the church choir. On Christmas morning, for example, our choir opened the service with an acapella offering of Bach’s Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light. It was done beautifully, in perfect pitch and with the appropriate phrasing, dynamics, and tone. And we only practiced it once – once! But my story happened a few months before that. My story took place during my first three practices in Mr. B’s choir.

Practice Number One – Getting to Know Mr. B.

The first thing I noticed in Practice Number One is that Mr. B doesn’t have an accompanist. Not for rehearsals anyway. He turns the piano so it’s no more than three feet away from the front row of the choir, and directs from there, peering at us over the top of his music. The second thing I noticed is that Mr. B is a very passionate person. You don’t just sing songs when you’re in Mr. B’s choir. You tell the story of your faith. He’s not afraid to tell you what the words mean to him, and encourages his choir to think about the meaning behind the words they are singing.

So far, I was loving this choir. I enjoyed moving from piece to piece, basically sight-reading our way through the fall selections. But when we came to a section I was having trouble with, I didn’t dare raise my hand to ask for help. No one else was asking to have their part played. I certainly wasn’t going to be the first.

When the rehearsal ended, and we all began to disperse, I was eager to talk to someone and share my first impressions. The only person I really knew well enough was Connie. “That was amazing!” I told her as we exited the building. “This is so different than what I’m used to.” Then I told her about my hesitation to ask to have a part played.

“Oh, no,” Connie told me. “You can ask him to play a part. That’s no problem.”

I wondered.

Practice Number Two – Request Denied

Practice Number Two was a lot like Practice Number One. We went through one song after the other, never bothering to take any parts individually. And then, who should raise her hand, but my friend Connie. “Could you play the alto line on the top of page 3?” Connie asked. “I’m having a little trouble with that part.”

And what do you think Mr. B did?

He paused for just a moment and then said, “Nah. You’ll get it,” and continued on with practice. It was all I could do to keep from jumping up and shouting, “I told you!”

But that’s not the end of my story. There’s more.

Practice Number Three – The Apology

By Practice Number Three I felt I was pretty well used to this choir and its passionate director. I didn’t expect any more major surprises. But I was wrong. About five minutes into our third rehearsal Mr. B stopped to make this unexpected statement: “Last week Connie asked to hear her part, and I didn’t do it. I wasn’t trying to be mean. I just knew that she’d get it eventually. And she did.”

I often wondered if Connie talked to Mr. B between Practice Number Two and Practice Number Three. All I know is Mr. B played parts more frequently after that. But I understand where he was coming from. Mr. B had every confidence in his choir and their abilities. He knew they were fully capable of learning their parts and trusted them to do so. It’s not a bad attitude for a choir director to take.

And now, five years later, I guess I’m sort of the same way. But I’ll make no apologies. Pounding out parts is no fun. Not for the voice that’s going through it, and certainly not for everyone else in the choir. And with an above-average choir, like my beloved swalc, it’s just not always necessary. You people can read music. You’ll get it.

That’s my philosophy anyway. And I know at least one other director agrees with me.

Still, I don’t take it quite to the extreme that Mr. B did in those first three practices. I’ll certainly play parts if someone asks to hear them. It’s only right. But I wonder what it would be like, if one day someone asked to hear their part, and I would do like Mr. B… pause for a moment and say, “Nah. You’ll get it!” just to see what would happen. No, I’d better not. I think the choir likes me. I’d like to keep it that way.


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Linette Takes the Plunge


Most people who know me wouldn’t say I have the most exciting life. But if you could climb into my head, and see things from my perspective you’d see it differently.

This Sunday, for example, is the first rehearsal for the Southwest Area Lutheran Chorale. This little choir isn’t world-renown by any means, but when I stand in front of them and lead them in song, I feel as blessed as Dale Warland himself.

Likewise, today, in just a few short hours, I shall attempt to do something I have never done before. It will require nerves of steel, and a resolve to put mind over matter. I’m not going skydiving or bungee jumping, but I have no doubt that as I stand on the pinnacle of my endeavor, I will feel the same adrenaline-fed rush of fear and excitement as any thrill seeker.

Today, at precisely 9:05 am, I will stand at the edge of the New Ulm Rec. swimming pool and do a cannonball into the water.

See, I knew you wouldn’t think it was very exciting. But you don’t know what I know. You don’t know that I’m not much of a swimmer. And you don’t know that my preferred method of entering the water is to ease in, inch by chilly inch.

But in just a few hours, I plan to change all that. For the first time, and hopefully not the last, I’m going to do what I’ve always known in my head is best, and just jump right in.

I can see it now. I’ll pace. I’ll shiver. I’ll touch the tepid water and try to talk my way out of it, but then the moment will come. The moment when determination gets the upper hand and I throw all my fears aside.

I’ll take a deep breath, plug my nose, and leap into the air!

It won’t be pleasant, and it won’t be pretty, but it will be victory. It won’t earn me any medals or get me on Oprah, but in that moment I will know I faced my fears, and came out victorious. It’ll be my marathon, my Olympics, my Everest.


I can see it now.

Now I just have to do it…



Sunday, January 16, 2011

In The Bleak Midwinter

The other day at the dinner table Danica was telling us about her religion assignment. They were to take a secular song, and change the lyrics to make it religious. I immediately suggested she do a song by her favorite artist, Michael Jackson; perhaps rewriting “Cause this is Thriller…” to “Cause He’s my Savior…” Jeff suggested a Kansas tune, “Carry on my perfect Son…”

In the end, she went with my suggestion, sort of. She picked a Michael Jackson song, but not Thriller. She decided to rewrite the lyrics to “You Are Not Alone.” When I asked her if she’d let me post it here, she refused saying, “It’s not that good.”

I don’t think she really enjoyed the assignment. But it gave me an idea.

I thought it might be fun to rewrite a song that’s been playing in my head quite a bit lately. The first verse is quite good as is, so I left it unchanged except for adding the words “not so” to the last line. Verses 2 – 4 are new. Here it is. Perhaps you can relate.

In the Bleak Midwinter

  1. In the bleak midwinter,

frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow

snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, not so long ago.

  1. Here in Minnesota

people love the snow.

For Christmas and for New Year’s

it's lovely, don’t ya know.

But when the yuletide passes,

waiting for the thaw

brings seasonal depression

and feeling rather “blah.”

  1. Why then do I live here?

Yes, I wonder too.

Couldn’t we relocate,

As snowbirds often do?

But when you’re born and raised here

it's hard to move away,

and so we spend our winters

holding out till May.

  1. After May comes summer;

what a glorious time,

filled with blooming color

and lots of warm sunshine!

And so, I’ll dream of springtime.

I’ll dream of summer too,

for in the bleak midwinter

there’s not much else to do.



Sunday, January 9, 2011

Kids Against Hunger


Yesterday I got to go to Mankato with a new friend and witness a Kids Against Hunger packing event in action. The Crow River Good Samaritan RV Club had raised $447.12, enough to package 9 boxes or 1944 meals. These high protein, fully-nutritional meals, will be sent to places where people are dying of starvation.

In America, I don’t think we really understand what starvation is like. I know I don’t. Just as I can surf through dozens of channels, and say, “There’s nothing to watch,” I can look at my overflowing pantry and still think, “There’s nothing to eat around here.” In a word, we’re spoiled.

In all my 45 years, I have never been without food. From the day I was born to today I’ve had more than enough to keep me going. And because I’ve never been really, truly hungry, I don’t realize how blessed I am not to have to worry about feeding myself or my family. Sure, I say my table prayers, but that’s too often motivated by habit, and not real gratitude.

But it is a blessing – a huge one. And not everyone in the world has that blessing. Whether it’s the result of poverty, drought, war, or disaster, people are starving. And whatever the causes, it’s not the children’s fault.

The guy who runs the Mankato satellite put it this way. Cancer kills thousands of people every day. But there’s no cure for cancer. Starvation also kills thousands of people every day. But there is a cure for starvation. Food. So why aren’t we able to give the hungry what they need to survive? We can. And organizations like Kids Against Hunger are!

It’s simple really. Local groups schedule a Kids Against Hunger packing event. Then the groups work to raise money. When the packing day arrives, they turn in the money they’ve collected and pack as much food as that money will buy. Then Kids Against Hunger sends the packaged food to where it is needed most. Often the packages are sent by Navy, Air Force, or USAID agencies at no cost. And finally, the food is distributed by non-government charity organizations already working in areas of greatest need. So far Kids Against Hunger has provided over 162 million meals for children and their families in more than 60 countries using this simple, yet effective method.

Obviously, I think what Kids Against Hunger is doing is really amazing. So when I heard there was interest in bringing a satellite here to New Ulm, I decided to do what I could to help. The new friend I mentioned earlier is donating a building for us to use. A local law firm has donated the $8,000 to purchase the Kids Against Hunger start up kit. Dozens of others from the community have attended our first few organizational meetings and an operating board has been formed. We’ll have our first official board meeting on Thursday.

In short, things are going very well, and it’s exciting to be a part of it.

If you’d like to learn more I encourage you to google Kids Against Hunger. Or search for Kids Against Hunger videos at YouTube. There are lots of them. Here’s one I found that shows what it’s like to be part of a packing event.

And finally, let me know if you want to help in any way. Each meal costs only 23¢. That’s a pretty small amount to give a child a full tummy, and a future.