The Choir

I've directed the United Methodist Choir for years, with some breaks when I went off to do other things and other directors took over.  This last time it was six years.

But now I am packing it in, as of the end of May. I've quit all the volunteer work I'd done, and now I am finishing the year at the church.  From now on, I intend to write and travel.  

The choir is aging and struggling.  At our best we sound good, but there are those days when too many members are missing.  Sundays find me counting, figuring out what parts we have, rehearsing, changing things around so that we sound as good as possible.  We no longer can do those big eight part anthems, but I do have some two and three part songs we can put together on the spur of the moment. 

When I told the choir I was leaving I suggested we have a meeting with the pastor. It would be better for them to discuss their future now than try to figure out something in September.  Besides, there are salaries to consider as the pastor explained to them this morning.    

The choir decided they want to continue in the fall.  They face several problems:  finding a director, a pianist, and new members. (I was both director and pianist.)  They formed a committee and will begin to work on it now.  They must do a search.  I wish them well.  My only part will be to review the available music with them.  There are four four-drawer filing cabinets stuffed with music.  I spent part of my tenure organizing those files to be workable so that should be easy.  

I will work with them to the very end of May and hand over my key to the church with no regrets.

......

Wade finished the third part of his Badlands Journal at Black Coffee Fiction http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com 

Now it is up to me to do the next three weeks as well as working on the novel and writing short stories for the  fiction writing class.  Tomorrow I give a talk at the Neenah Public Library.  Busy, busy, busy.