One Down, One to Go

The concert is over.

There were some last minute excitements that popped up, like a misunderstanding that resulted in the garland decorations and the 3M hooks that held them in place being removed. Thankfully, we had a box of assorted 3M hooks from various places we've lived, so Bryan and a member of our Stake Presidency were able to put the garland back up less than an hour before the concert.

And we started late, but only by five minutes.

The music itself was wonderful. Our Primary sang Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus while the big boys (including Cooper) played hand bells. That was really cool.

I called on my stage manager skills (and listened to Bryan's wise suggestions) to keep transitions smooth and quick. I handed out cue sheets to the four different choirs that came and to the various small group numbers, so everyone knew when they needed to walk up to the stand. All entrances were on the left side of the stand, all exits were on the right. As one group exited, the next one entered. We didn't have any lag time due to transitional traffic.

My big stress last night wasn't the choir number that I directed or making sure that everyone else knew where they needed to be when. No, it was the duet I was part of. I have not exercised my voice enough recently. I was out of shape vocally and having a hard time. After a pretty lousy run through after choir, Bryan gave me a blessing of comfort. That helped tremendously. We were the penultimate song on the program, not including a closing congregational hymn. The song was not perfect, I dropped my harmony twice, but I hopefully did it in an inconspicuous way. Our blend was good, our voices were strong, and the message of the song came through, and that's what's important.

And now to prepare for the musical Sacrament Meeting next Sunday.