Adventures in Caroling.

* It's becoming painfully obvious that my "advanced" choir is in a rebuilding year. It's not that I don't have talent, it's that I have an underabundance of leaders. The new people are kind of clueless - about having to learn parts (and what that means, exactly), about rehearsal etiquette, about stage professionalism. We were caroling over the weekend at a community event when three of my freshman failed to meet us after a break. Ten minutes into our last set they rejoined us, with slices of pizza and sodas in their hands. We had to have a little talk.

* First gig of the season - caroling down a busy boulevard for the local holiday "walk." Every year we compete with more and more rock band who set up in just about every nook and cranny that can fit more than three people along the busy street. We resorted to going into restaurants and cafe's to sing. One of them asked us to leave because we were making it hard for the servers to get around. Bah Humbug.

* Second gig of the season - singing at a veteran's hospital for people who are sick and/or dying. I forget how powerful this can be. I took my kids through the halls, singing to open doors. Every once in a while I see people propped up in their beds, unable to even turn towards us and watch us walk by. The kids manage to keep going, but I get too choked up to sing after a while.

* Third gig of the season - later that same day, we sang at a holiday party at the local performing arts center for a group of high-powered investors. Despite our decidedly mediocre performance, we were showered with praise and gifts (including a couple bottles of wine for me). The poignancy of the contrast between the lush, pristine setting of this event and that of the hospital just hours earlier was not lost on me.

*

"Dear Mr. Maestro, I'm sorry for not contacting you sooner. My daughter, Miss K will not be able to perform tomorrow at X event. She has an important test coming up, and I don't want her to miss class. Thank you for understanding - Mrs. K"

"Dear Mrs. K. Thank you for e-mailing. Don't worry about it. No problem. In fact, given that Miss K misses over 2/3 of the caroling gigs, we stopped relying on her over a year ago. Happy Holidays to you and yours! - M"

* Four more gigs to go - I wish the kids would discover he benefits of ironing their concert attire in between engagements.