Singing for Catholic Charities was Interesting

We sang before the Catholic Charities Journey for Hope program on Thursday.  The choir took off from school, got there 45 minutes before we were due to sing, practiced, and sang.  We were not introduced to the people, acknowledged or thanked.  There was no where set aside for us to sing comfortably, and they would not even move the podium so we could stand on the tiny stage in any kind of way that made sense.  We had no piano, though there was a baby grand in the hall across from the banquet room on a rolling base and everything.  Our accompanist had hauled his keyboard and a PA system, which we discovered on arrival would not exactly work since they had a sound system, but were apparently not expecting to put microphones with a choir and there was much chaos and confusion about sound issues which continued right up to the minute we were to sing.

These things trouble me.  As the director, I try to be accommodating with people who ask us to sing, and generous with the choir's time and talents, but this particular event stretched even my generosity.  Though it is an honor to be asked to sing, the circumstances we had to put up with were not acceptable and it is difficult to discern if the fault lay with Catholic Charities personnel or the Marriott personnel.  I'm not sure it matters.  In the end, I am responsible for the choir, so it falls to me to choose our engagements wisely and well.

All that being said, we brought our Rome music home to Jackson and sang it.  We were so pleased that we could offer that service and grateful for a venue in which to do it.   There were a few people who were not talking so loudly that they could hear us, and they smiled and seemed grateful that there was live choral music.  In the end, we took our Chick-fil-a sandwich coupons and walked across the street to get our provided lunch and generally tried to shake off the sense of purposelessness and disatisfaction the experience created.   If we do something like that again, I have learned some VALUABLE lessons in things I need to be sure are taken care of prior to our arrival at a venue.

It was probably a very lovely program.  Since we did not buy tickets, we could not stay, so I can't say how the program itself went, but I can say that attendance was HUGE.  I heard someone tell Bishop Latino that there were 700 people coming when they expected 250-300.  That's amazing.

I hope, in the end, that the choir's efforts were at least appreciated.  They sang as well as they could under the circumstances and took off from school to do it, and did it with the characteristic cheerful hearts bent on service which is their stock and trade..  In retrospect, I feel badly for them, since I did not realize we would have no practical considerations for choral singing attended to, and I pledge to my choir and parents that I will be much much more assertive before I ask the choir to sing for something again.  I am so sorry, I had no idea the situation would be so difficult.