BYU Choral Academy

I just returned from a 4 day workshop at BYU called Choral Academy. It was a lot of fun to be in the classroom again, really learning about the voice and how to help your choir produce great sound. I thought that I was doing a pretty good job with my little ward choir, but now I have some new skills so that I can do so much better! I also discovered that it takes A LOT of preparation on the conductors part before I even come to that first rehearsal of a piece of music. Anyhow, I don't think I will be spending the amount of time that professional choral conductors do, but I will spend a little bit more than I was. We got to go to a rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and we actually sat up in the seats with them and got to sing and watch Mack Wilberg conduct. That was fun..........I sang a little bit, but then I figured I should just watch the conductor since that's what I was there for. I also didn't want to mess with that fine MoTab sound by throwing in my voice - not that I couldn't sing and do a fine job, but the conductor might not appreciate having 80 extra voices that haven't been "trained" by him as the conductor.

I came to big realization while I was there at BYU. I am not 18 anymore, or 20, or 22 for that matter! I am just older than the college crowd now. In fact, I'm almost double the age of all those freshmen! That doesn't mean that I am not capable of going back to college and learning, not at all. It just means I shouldn't try to look or dress like them, because, well, I'm not them. That realization definitely influenced me while I shopping for some new clothes. I tried on some "junior" kind of things, and they just didn't look right. No, I'm not going to start dressing in polyester and old lady looking clothes, but I guess it's time to be a bit more "mature." Oh, what a sad realization!

As for my time away from my kids. It was nice to not have to worry about them while I was so busy, but at the end of the day I really wanted to just go home to my family. I didn't like being alone. So, there is a time for everything........and I've discovered that I can make some time for me to continue developing my talents, but I can still make time for everyone else, too. The scale may be tipped in the direction of my kids for now, but it will tip back in the other direction soon enough.

Here is a great quote from my workshop this week that was put on the overhead as we entered on day 3 (after the presentation of lots of information and thoughts of "what am I doing here?" crept into my mind) :

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was going to end, it became a butterfly.

So, we all just need to remember to have faith in ourselves and abilities and to hang in there when it seems like we can't do it.....because we can.