Sing Praise

Last night was great! Lieto!, a choir here in town that is SO wonderful, had a concert and the director let me perform one of my original compositions and one of my arrangements. I was able to hear "A Christmas Vision" for the first time with real instruments (not just the fake Finale ones). I wrote the music to this piece two years ago as a gift for my dad for Christmas. My Great-great Grandpa, Edgar Howard, lost an 11 year old daughter before Christmas one year. He was heartbroken. He was a Christian so he had belief of life after death and of a heaven. He wrote a poem about how, although Christmas was the same as usual, it was so different without the presence of his little girl. One night he had a vision in which she came to him in a dream and told him not to worry. Though they would never see each other again on Earth, they would surely see each other again in paradise. It's a very touching poem and it was so cool to finally hear it with the live piano and English horn. The other piece was an arrangement of "Silent Night" for piano and French horn. It turned out really nice. The choir was AMAZING! They do so well and I love listening to them. I am so grateful to Norm Lister for letting me do these pieces. I can't ever thank him and the choir enough. It's also SO fun to have Mike perform with me on piano. I love it!

We also had our Church Christmas Program today. Mike was in charge of the program (as he is the ward choir director). I can't tell you how well it went. It was a low pressure performance, but the most important one of the season. The choir sounded better then ever. There were small miracles that made things work so well. The spirit was certainly there as we sang those carols and hymns. People were moved to tears and I was so proud of my husband for all the work he has put into it. Again, I love this season!