Lots of things on my mind:
1) Christ-First Baptist Church choir and orchestra did a wonderful job this morning! I am exhausted from the three services we did, and I can hardly imagine how tired everybody else feels after working so hard. Major props to all who were involved. I really stretched and challenged everyone-and I am very proud of the work they accomplished.
Let me say this: down with click tracks! Ugh.
There were a few roadbumps today in the program that were probably unnoticeable to the audience, but pretty scary and frustrating for me–and they all had to do with the darn DVD click track we used. I distinctly remember doing this musical for the first time in 2003 at Midway, and thinking afterwards “I will never use a DVD click track again!”, but the next year actually used one for a Patriotic thing that went really well. Oh well–it was crazy to try and recover from a crazy clicktrack, but IN THE END IT DIDN’T REALLY MATTER because we made it happen no matter what. But I probably won’t use one again. It’s not worth it to leave your entire show in the hands of a sub-par DVD player that may or may not function correctly.
But overall effect was quite spectacular. Great job all!
2) Parents are coming and we get a few days at Musicalifornia in San Diego. Phew. It will be nice to get away for a little bit without the kids. It will also be cool to find some new music. Not only will I be looking for new music for the Chancel Choir at my church here, but also a summer concert rep for Midway Baptist as well. We’ll be doing a concert there on June 30th.
3) Al Clifft played trombone this weekend for me, and his wife Glenna sang in the choir. Not only did she sing, but she joined last week and and memorized the entire thing. I cannot tell you how amazing it was to have these two incredible musicians a part of the experience this weekend. Not only is Al my mentor, but probably the person whose opinion I respect the most when it comes to music stuff. I mean-the dude was born for conducting like Pele was born to play soccer. I can tell you the first time I saw Al Clifft–it was during a pre-registration event at APU. I was in the caf (LTCC) and he walked in talking with Glenn Austin (God bless him). I remember being incredibly intimidated by him, thinking he was about 9 feet tall. It’s funny now to think that he is a great friend and lifetime teacher. Having his support was a great boost of confidence.
4) We hired 9 string players to play for Eyes of Faith–and when I say hired, I mean truly top-notch professional artisans. These guys are the ones that are in the studios in Burbank and Hollywood recording film scores (the ones that are still recorded here) and from the moment they showed up, they rocked. I’ve hired many orchestras, and conducted many groups, but these players were the best of the best. Not only did I have these string players, but also a former UCO piano player, one of my professors from CSULA on drums, Al and Jerry Steele on Trombone, and Heidi on Horn. All that to say, that this orchestra kicked major butt, and it was a huge highlight. I also had one of the cellists tell me that I was a good conductor (and that he should know because his dad was a conductor, etc…). Why, thank you!! That’s great to hear, ‘cause you really never know how good you’re actually doing in the grand scheme of things. Another confidence booster, for sure–which is good since I’ll be conducting a group of strangers come May for the GALA of Stars (Concordia).
5) I also heard from Joli that the Midway services for Easter were awesome. Good job to you all! I’d love to hear from you how it all went…let me know!
6) Getting close to finished with ACT 1 of the Gala–and I already did ACT 2, so I’m almost done-yay!
7) Still a lot on my plate as I look ahead to the summer months, but I’m glad for all I’m doing and accomplishing. May the Lord be praised!
