I do feel bad on a couple of levels that I was not able to get it together. I listened to it off the youtube and was just not able to get it. What I heard in my head is not what I thought I was singing.
We Shall Overcome
A Move of God By Norman Hutchins
I really need to watch this one on youtube
I Got a Robe
I got a robe up in a that Kingdom aint-a that good new (as Dir)
I’m gonna lay down this world. I’m gonna shoulder up a my cross
Gonna take it home to my Jesus aint-a that good news.
It is another lovely evening here in Homestead. I am here waiting for choir rehearsal to start. The general consensus is that the movie Red Tails is great. I have not watched it yet. I am sure I will go and see it since it is a WWII flick. Also Cuba Gooding Jr. is in it and I have gone to see every movie he has been in for the last ten years. Everyone also likes the movie Joyful Noise.
I am personally having a lot of trouble with transitions in the music. I also have trouble going from a high note and dropping to a low note. For what ever reason I do not have as much trouble with the reverse.
On a not so musical front we talk again about rehearsing before we sing on Sundays. This could only help. The only rub is that we do not have a proper choir room. I am still a bit sketchy on the polity of Second Baptist. So I am not sure if it is in the prevue of the President of Trinity Choir to push for this. I would like to see it happen. It would help us as a group. Sadly I simply do not understand the politics of this church. I would prefer not to annoy people. Still, we were given permission to use a room last Spring and it has not come together. I will be talking to a few people and I will let you know what I decide to do.
Once again at practice Minister Burwell was too polite to single me out as the person that is dragging down the Tenor Section. I understand that he is trying to get the various sections to work together. Sadly I do not think that I have the ear to ever get to that point. Once I understand what I should be doing I can usually belt out my part the same way every time, for the most part. At the moment I am chalking it up to a mystery of Gospel Music that I cannot understand yet.
On the up side of being bad my fellow tenors are usually willing to throw me under the bus if I do something wrong. This is done with great humor and love so it is always welcome. Also I occasionally scare one of the Sopranos if I am way off the mark. From years of singing on kettle I have a tendency to sing louder than Mick Jagger with an amp. I am working on this as well.
On an entry that recounts a practice for Trinity I will be adding what songs we are working on. If I can find a video of someone else doing the finished product I will include that as well.
I have also typed up most the lyrics to the songs that we are singing. If I can figure out how to make those available I will put them up as well.
Songs We are Working on for the first Sunday in February:
God is My Everything
It’s Time to Celebrate and Rejoice
I am a member of the Trinity Choir at Second Baptist Church in Homestead, Pennsylvania. I joined two years ago and am still struggling with Gospel music in general. This year I was elected President of the Choir. I was the fourth choice still it is an honor. I choose to think my fellow choir member respect me enough to settle for me when no one, including myself, wanted the job.
I began this musical adventure a year ago. I call it that because I have no experience in Gospel Music before. My Christian music experience was limited to singing along from a song book or hymnal. The only other experience I had was singing on a kettle with the Salvos at Christmas time. I really did enjoy that and I miss it greatly.
This has been work. This has been harder than learning to juggle or knit. And frankly I am not satisfied with where I am. If it were not for the tolerance of out Director, Minister John Burwell, I would not still be doing it. As someone that has done a fair amount of performing I do not like being bad at anything. With circus skills you practice them until you are ready to perform. In this choir I think I performed before I was ready to. Granted I am not sure that I am ready at this point.
The up side of being the President is that I do not have to make any creative decisions. I mostly preside over the business meetings and have a say in if we cancel for inclement weather.
I do see one administrative challenge of this year. We need to start reviewing our songs before we sing on Sundays. We do not have a choir room as such. We have been given permission to use a room that has very inappropriate furniture for our purposes. It has bulk chairs that do not fit in the room and steel desk that take up a third of the room. We as a church do not embrace change quickly. In order to make this room useful we will have to change the furniture and remove several items that are being stored in the choir room.
On a couple of house keeping notes there are a couple things that you should know about me. I am a clown, I run a clown troupe. I am also white and the rest of the choir is black. I only mention this as a point of reference. It might also give perspective to some who are far removed from these events.
Also In two years I have not found fault with anyone in the choir. They are all a good natured group of folks that have been welcoming every step of the way. The only person I have questions about is our Director. I personally think he may be to hopeful about my potential. There is more than a chance that he knows something I do not. Even so that is my perspective at this moment.
The reason I mentioned the good nature of the folks in the choir is so you know why there is little drama in these entries. In fact in the entire church of hundreds of people I have only had one person be rude to me. And frankly I think they have their own personal issues they are dealing with and lashing out at me was displaced anger.
