over

At some point last night, I took my shoes off, and my tired feet, legs and back appreciated it. But I wasn't thinking much about these body parts, because I still had a head full of Mozart.

Making music in a choir, particularly lots of music, is sort of like a group of people making a quilt or textile piece together. The individuals can look at the micro level, stitches that that they have made, but the pleasure comes from experiencing the whole. Two big differences. In live choral singing, the finished product is temporal, and the listeners are experiencing it only once, and immediately. Secondly, instead of making stitches, singers are the thread that gets woven into the total experience. Of course, we are far from passive in our work. But the choices that we make, our actions, include using our voice.

It was a full house, over 600 folk in St. Richard's School gym. I espied two sets of townlet neighbors, as well as people from Trinity parish. St. Paul's had quite a number of people. Our concert was part of Spirit and Place, an Indy festival of the arts, humanities and religion.

I must confess that during Veniti populi, the Choir II basses lost three measures. I am not sure what happened. We talked about it afterwards and couldn't figure it out. This piece was written by the adolescent Mozarat, and is somewhat of a trifle. But singing it does get one up for the singing in the Mass.

The two parishes will join again in February for the Two Parish Choir Festival, singing a Sunday eucharist service at St. Paul's, and a choral evensong that evening at Trinity. Patrick Wedd, director of music at Montreal's Christ Church Cathedral will conduct the joint choir.