wfn.org | UCC choir still singing at Synod

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> UCC choir still singing at Synod

> Written by Micki Carter
> June 29, 2009

Writer Micki Carter experiences the  Synod choir first-hand
When it comes to singing in the General Synod 27 choir, the notes
aren't even the half of it.

My husband Mike and I have had the score for the anthem, "Let Hope
Spring Forth" by Mark Hayes, for a couple of weeks, and we know how to
follow instructions. Choir Director Scott Ressman, the UCC minister
for worship, music and liturgical arts, emailed us to come to General
Synod 27 prepared to sing.

Mike's a tenor and church choirs always need them. Altos, however, are
usually a dime a dozen. But when Mike signed up online to sing in the
choir, Scott replied with expected glee and tossed in a request for
altos as well. So I signed up, too.

I practiced at the piano before I left and then Scott sent a computer
file with the accompaniment for each section. I brought the file along
to Synod and practiced in my hotel room. (To my knowledge, no one
complained to the management.)

So we were ready to sing when we showed up for our only practice at
12:45 p.m. Sunday before our performance in the 3 p.m. worship
service.  But most of the practice wasn't for practicing notes; it was
for practicing finding our spots on the risers, practicing getting up
on the stage and practicing getting back down ? gracefully!

The Rev. Jean Wallenfang, the stage director in the Plenary Hall, put
all 150 of us through our paces. We were a little ragged but we were ready.

We gathered in our designated seats for the afternoon worship and were
pretty much under the spell of the Rev. John H. Thomas's eloquence
when Scott waved us to our feet and we scuttled to our marching-in
spots. In five minutes, we got up, sang our hearts out and got down.

It helped that Cathedral of Hope UCC sent about 50 choir members to
sing with us.  They knew this anthem well since it was written in
celebration of the 24th anniversary of the founding of the Dallas
church. Cathedral of Hope's music director, Cathy Brown, directed us,
and the church's orchestra supported us.

So Mike and I learned a new anthem to take back to the choir of the
Congregational UCC of Belmont in the Northern California Nevada
Conference. If they're listening in Dallas next fall, they just might
hear a few strains.