good morning

It is almost two o’clock in the morning, and I am exhausted, but it is a good morning. 

I went to Columbia, S.C. for Thanksgiving with my daughter and two sons, then Janet and I  went up to Memphis to stay with another son and go to a concert where he sings with the Memphis Symphony Choir.  They sang a Christmas Concert with the Memphis Symphony this evening and it was one of the best evenings of my life.

I shave had the pleasure of listening to some of the best symphonies in the world, but I have to say that the Memphis Symphony Orchestra is one of the best orchestras in the medium sized cities of this country.  The choir was also wondrful.  I have directed two choirs, and counting church choirs, I have sung in forty or fifty different choirs.  Having said that, I was so jealous of my son being able to sing in this group with this choir.  It was an exceptional musical experience.  I can only think of one choir, of all those in which I have sung that was anywhere near the quality of this one. 

Their first accapella number had a blend and precision that was about perfect.  

The symphony was  wonderful and it was what I, for one, needed desperately right now.  My own choral work has become sloppy in old age, so much so that I have given up choir singing.   I can’t hear the parts well in the accompaniment, and my sight reading is no longer precise, but as long as I can hear a choir like this one from time to time, I will be satisfied to sit in the audience.