Singing Praises

The Cathedral of Los Angeles

In an earlier posting, I wrote of my desire to return to singing, and more pointedly, singing in the Southern California Mormon Choir.  That is still an intention because I run a recovery group that meets on the same night as the rehearsals.  However, I was able to attend 1 1/2 rehearsals recently, and the Choir was rehearsing for a performance to be held in the Our Lady of Los Angeles Cathedral in Los Angeles on February 10th.  

I was invited to sing with the SCMC and a couple of dozen other church choirs in that performance.  And so I did!  I was one of about 110 bases and a total of about 600 singers that sang a couple of dozen songs--no LDS hymns at all.

I very much enjoyed the experience on a number of levels.  First, it was fun to sing again professionally and to sing next to my fellow SCMC bass partner, Dr. Lynn McEwan, and sing some low "drop-through-the-floor" bass notes.  Secondly, it was thrilling to sing with such a large chorus of fairly competent singers.  Thirdly, I enjoyed singing to Ann and friend Annette Hammer in the audience.  Fourthly, and perhaps most memorably, I enjoyed singing praises to God.  

I have recognized that other churches always talk and sing about praising God.  I would like for our Church to be more in a "praise" mode, frankly.  As I was singing, I thought of how when the Savior was born in Bethlehem the angels sang in praise of the newborn Child.  I felt that the songs that we were singing likewise praised and pleased God, and that even though Catholics were singing alongside Protestants who were singing alongside Mormons, we were united in our worship of the same God.  It felt right, and it felt good. :) 

I Want to Sing Again

My Hero, Dr. Ralph Woodward

I sang all through my childhood years in church.  I sang in choirs all through junior high school.  I sang in choirs all through high school.  I sang in choirs all through university. I sang in the Mormon Youth Chorus and in the professional cast of a play.  I sang in an alumni choir after university. I have sung in different choruses and barbershop quartets through the years.  I have sung in or directed church choirs off and on all through my adult life.  I was a member of the Southern California version of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir--the Southern California Mormon Choir.

Singing has been a BIG part of my life.  Frankly, I am a pretty good singer with a decent voice and wide range.  So it has been a shock to my system to not sing professionally since I went back to school to get my Master's Degree in 2007.  My evenings since then have been taken up doing psychotherapy, something that I love doing and am happy to be doing.  This has been my effort to get my 3000 hours of performing psychotherapy.

But now as I near the end of this long interning journey, I am allowing myself to be hopeful that I can once again sing in a choir,  Performances of the Southern California Mormon Choir are usually on weekends, but rehearsals are on Wednesday nights.

I am blogging about this because I just returned from a rehearsal of a multi-congregational church choir, led by the director of the SCMC.  As I sang lustily, I felt melancholy that I have not been able to sing with the SCMC.  I felt a similar melancholy when Ann accompanied me on a rag business trip a few weeks ago to San Diego and we were able to find and participate in a holiday Messiah sing-along, led by a professional conductor and I sang alongside professional singers.

The Southern California Mormon Choir (I'm in the middle of the 3rd row)

Yes, I always sing with my congregation's choir.  But it is not of the professional caliber of the SCMC.  And not that the SCMC is the very best that Southern California has to offer, but it is a known quantity and it's good enough for me.  My hope is that sooner than later in 2013, I can transition back to singing regularly with a professional choir!