Dear Linda,
I am the director of a ward choir in Providence, Utah, and I
love it. When I began, our choir had 3
members (my husband, daughter and me). I
had to recruit quickly since directing left only one soprano and one supportive
(but thinks he can’t sing) bass.
After much prayer, we decided to make it a truly ward choir
and invite families to join with all of their children, no matter their
ages. This has been a miracle. We have the youngest member, now about 1 year
old, who began at 3 months. We have our
oldest members in their 70’s who started coming mostly because they felt sorry
for me. We have more and more youth and
more and more young and old joining us; so much so that we now fill all the
choir seats. People pretty much sit
where they can – mostly as families – so that everyone just feels comfortable.
A few of these amazing people read music. All of them, without exception, would not
think of themselves as solo singers, and most think they are barely able to
sing at all. They just come for the love
of the Gospel, their testimonies, and to have a good time together.
So! Take that group and give them 25 minutes a week to
practice (in between ward meetings) and then take many Sunday rehearsals away
for other events.
That doesn’t leave us much time to learn something new.
Our pianist is a darling mother of 5 who hasn’t played piano
in years and struggles but practices whenever she can in between her other
calling in MIA and her 3 part time jobs!!
Whew.
That is the background.
Well, we wanted to sing “Jesus, Savior Pilot Me.” I love
that hymn. But I thought it would be
nice to do a simple arrangement of it. I
tried doing one myself but fortunately had the inspiration to look online to
see who else had already done this!
Thank goodness. I found
yours. I loved it right away. I love the opening chords that tell you the
sailors (we) are in trouble and very worried, driven to our knees to pray. I loved just the few altered chords and
wonderful nuances in the music. I loved
how the pianist said she thought she could play it. I really loved how you changed the mood in
the last verse with a key change and going into 4/4.
We tried it out. Right
away I knew we could do it, but we were in a bit of trouble. I had to switch a couple of parts so
everyone could reach the notes, etc. But
the bass section just felt sad and weak and scared. So on Sunday I asked one of our really good
sopranos (a big loss to that section) if she would bring her cello and if we
could have a mid week practice to see
what could be done to bolster the confidence of the brethren.
Also, the pianist was struggling just a little bit by now
but not complaining.
Wednesday night was wonderful. Our sweet cellist just “sang” along with the
bass section and then covered some of the notes in the ending verse. We saw we did not need everything doubled by
the piano, so made that a little easier.
The basses relaxed and sang!
Well, the end is that by this morning I am excited to share
with you the results. Late last night I
remembered that not only is Charlotte playing her cello with us that day, but
it is also her mission farewell! I kept
thinking she needed “more.” So now she
gets a whole verse to herself. There
will not be a dry eye. This girl is so
humble and dear. We all love her and she
loves the Lord.
I really want you to know how much I love your inspired,
simple arrangement. And I want you to
see how we have lovingly made it work for a very sincere group of diligent
non-singing singers and one very kind young cellist.
Thank you so much for
sharing your talent, your testimony and your hard work with all of us “out here”
Love,
Your sister in the Gospel
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