Like the Von Trapps, Sort Of

One Sunday last month I was chatting with a friend after church. It's her responsibility to find musical numbers for Sacrament Meeting. She asked if I would sing one more time before we moved. I believe that if we don't use talents, we lose them, so I said yes. After deciding on the day, an idea occurred to me.

What if I didn't sing by myself? What if I had five other people that happen to share my last name join me?

I floated the idea to Bryan later that day. I thought for sure he would say no, but he didn't. Once I got a yes from him, I asked the kids. Peter was apprehensive, Cooper and Phoebe agreed, and Sophie was thrilled. "I sing at the microphone?" was her grinning reply.

This past Sunday was the day. We had rehearsed I Am a Child of God as mush as the kids would allow, which was not nearly enough for my liking. We divided the verses so the girls sang a little by themselves, the boys had a little duet, then Bryan and I sang together. We even added harmonies, but when I moved to the alto line the kids all lost the melody, so we scrapped them for the actual performance.

How did it go? Well, it went. Despite the microphone, I don't think anyone could hear the kids sing during their duets. It's an exceptionally lousy microphone. I got lots of compliments on how sweet it was that we all sang together, and several people said they had no idea that Bryan could sing, let alone that he has such a great voice. I smiled and said thank you and agreed that Bryan is a great singer.

The kids were happy with it, and that's what matters. Peter almost didn't get up to sing. He has such strong stage fright that it nearly kept him pinned to his seat, but he gathered his courage and joined us. Cooper and Phoebe were our strongest singers, but were a little overcome by the big congregation. Sophie sang as I held her, but would have preferred playing on the stand. The mic was too far away from her face to feel like she was really singing "at the microphone."

Now that this long-held musical dream of mine has been fulfilled, I'm planning for our next family performance. Two things have come to mind so far: we'll figure out a better way to use the mic, and we'll practice more.