The Choir Room Podcast
This podcast exists to promote and encourage two long-time traditions in our society that seem to be dwindling…The Choir and Corporate Singing. We hope to revive the excitement and joy experienced with singing in a choir, as well as inform and educate the listener on all things singing, and all things choir related.
A weekly podcast featuring discussion and interviews with choir directors, choir members, and other guests representing church choirs, college and university choirs, community choirs, show and theatre choirs, composer of choir music, and other.
Segments include tips and instruction from skilled and professional disciplines within the choir community covering topics such as choir culture and community, choir directing, vocal training, ear training, sight reading, and more. A monthly virtual live audience episode allows the listener to engage with hosts and guests during instructional and Q&A segments via the live recording, chat, email, on various social media platforms.
A production of Metromusic & Arts, Inc.
- www.metromusic-arts.com
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The Choir Room Podcast
Unsung Memories: A Journey through Choir Reunions and Gospel Traditions
Experience the resilience of choir and corporate singing in this insightful episode of The Choir Room. As schools reopen and young enthusiasts warm up their vocal cords for choir season, we share in the joy of age-old singing traditions. Highlighting this spirit of celebration is our exploration of the 50-year anniversary of the New Christian Tabernacle Church Choir in Paterson, New Jersey. Hear the exhilarating account of this event from our own Dorian and Mietta, along with valuable insights from Choir Master Arthur J. Farrar III.
We unravel the unique challenges faced by choir directors, particularly relating to enhancing weaker voices within the choir. Through an intriguing story about a choir needing to find a last-minute replacement soloist, we underline the necessity of training and trust in choir members to sing and minister, even amidst unforeseen obstacles. You'll get to understand the delicate equilibrium between performance and ministry, which forms the backbone of corporate singing.
In a trip down the memory lane, we recollect cherished choir memories and the stirring experience of a reunion of singers. The wonderful history of gospel singing, the impact of multiple generations within a family on choir traditions, and the energy from spontaneous corporate singing – all come alive in our conversations.
Perpetuating and Promoting the Christian and Positive Idea Through the Medium of Music and Other Arts.
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 2:This is season one, episode 20, of the choir room podcast. I'm Greg Thomas, your host, and I'll soon be joined by my co-host, dorian Johnson, mi'eta Stanselfarer, and who we like to call the fourth wheel, coleman Smart, if you're joining us for the first time. This podcast exists to promote and encourage two longtime traditions in our society that seem to be dwindling away, and that is choir and corporate singing. We endeavor to revive the excitement and the joy experienced with singing in a choir, as well as inform and educate the listener on all things singing and all things choir related. Now, as we approach this Labor Day weekend here in 2023, summer seems to be coming to an end. It seems to have left without saying goodbye, adios, nothing. And now our kids are getting ready to go back into school, as they do, and they are preparing to enroll into choir or chorus of jazz ensemble. This is usually an exciting time for students and instructors alike. High school choirs, colleges and universities, community choirs are all starting to prepare For the fall season and, of course, for the holiday. We have much to talk about here in the choir room, much to share, much to learn. If you haven't subscribed already, make sure you do so by sending the word, subscribe to thequireroomatmetromusic-artscom, or you can subscribe anywhere that you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2:All across the globe, in every country, in every nation, people celebrate the day on which, perhaps, a country was born or an institution was founded, or a birthday or an anniversary. It's a time when people come together to commemorate, to celebrate, to remember, on a particular date every year. Those events may include special music, special foods, people coming from far and near as they've scattered over a period of time, holidays like Thanksgiving, christmas, even New Year's Eve celebrations. So there's no shortage of reasons for people to come together to celebrate something. And this past weekend, we had an opportunity to witness one of those reasons for celebrating Celebrating 50 years of singing together. The new Christian Tabernacle Church Choir in Patterson, new Jersey, reassembled for 50-year celebration, which really turned out to be an anniversary slash reunion for so many people there. Thank you, god, thank you and thank you. We love you.
Speaker 2:Now, if you listen very closely, thankfully in the background you'll hear leading this song our very own Vietta Stansofara. Now, dorian and I had an opportunity to attend that service and, though I had no intention on recording anything, it started so grand and really took me back to some very early years growing up in the church that I had to pull my phone out and capture what I could. Now this is a little of Reverend. Scott Cumberbatch and his group called the Choir. Now there's only six of them singing. That's right, six people from the choir and go and go and go and go and go and go and go Church Gospel Choir at its finest.
Speaker 2:Dorian and Vietta are going to share their experience a little later regarding this weekend's event, and then we're going to have the Choir Master himself, arthur J Ferrara III, aka Daesh. He's going to share his experience about this Choir anniversary reunion weekend. But right now, dorian is going to take us to our hymn of the week and then Vietta will bring us to our CRQ and again, if you're listening for the first time, crq is an acronym for Choir Room Questions. We try to answer those as unbiased as possible but speaking from our personal experience and skill level, Dorian.
Speaker 4:Thanks so much, greg. This week's hymn of the week is Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder and, if you've been noticing, we've been looking at what our response should be to who God is. We looked at who God the Father is as it has been shown to us in hymns God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and then we've started to look at how we should respond to the triune God and we've been told to rejoice, we've been told to praise Him with wanting to have 10,000 tongues to do so, and we've also, this week, been told to love and sing and wonder at our God. This hymn is written by John Newton, who famously wrote Amazing Grace and wrote approximately 350 hymns, and this particular hymn actually ends each verse talking about being washed by the blood of Christ and being brought closer to God because of his sacrifice, and this reminds us of what we read in Revelation 1, 4 through 6. It's as John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you in peace, from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom priest to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. And so each verse calls us to love our God, to sing to him, to wonder at his grace.
Speaker 4:And the first verse in particular reminds us that our salvation, the salvation of the Christian, is indeed because of the grace of God. We read let us love and sing and wonder. Let us praise the Savior's name. He has hushed the laws loud thunder, he has quenched Mount Sinai's flame. We remember the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, when God revealed himself in power and in majesty and issued those ten words, those ten commandments, those five that told us what our relationship should be to God and those five that told us what our relationship should be to others. But we also are aware how we've broken all of them and we are guilty before God, and the law requires our death.
Speaker 4:And yet God, in his great grace and great mercy, sent the Lord Jesus Christ. And he sent him not when we were at our best but, as the second verse tells us, that he pitied us when we were his enemies and that he called us by his grace and he gave us ears and eyes to be able to hear the truth of the gospel and to be able to see our need for his forgiveness. We're also told that we should sing, though fierce temptation threatens hard to bear us down, in the third verse. And so that reminds us that not only has God released us from the penalty of sin through Christ, but he is releasing us from the power of sin through the strong salvation, through the salvation that we are given by the power of the Holy Spirit, who gives us the victory. We're also told to wonder at the fact that mercy has been given to us and that, by trusting in Christ, we can see at the cross that the justice of God was poured out on him and mercy was given to us.
Speaker 4:And then, finally, in the fifth verse, we're told let us praise and join the chorus of the saints and throne on high. Here they trusted him before us. Now their praises fill the sky, and once again our eyes are turned to heaven, where those who have gone before us, that great cloud of witnesses who are gathered around the throne of God, can repeat this refrain. And this is the last part of the last verse of the hymn. It says you have watched us with your blood. You are worthy lamb of God. So, as we consider all that God has done for us in Christ, and all that Christ has done for us in his life, death and resurrection, and all the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives even now, ought we not to love and sing and wonder at the great grace and the great mercy of our God?
Speaker 1:All right, thanks, greg. Here we are again this evening with our CRQ, our choir room question. Now let me first preface this question with why it is this question. My husband and I we often have these conversations while we're traveling back and forth regarding choir stuff. Just, you know some random choir things and we were talking about one of the choirs that we know and how you could go from a lot of choir members to a very small group of choir members in such a short time. It looks really good when you start something and then, as time go on, life happens and so people start to fall off and you end up with a smaller group than you first started. So the question tonight is what does a choir director do when the choirs ask to minister travel, ministry travel, and they are not able to go Because the members that responded with a yes are the not so strong slash confident voices. Dorian is cracking up, which ended in a decline to the invitation. So now the choir can't go because the director is not entirely comfortable with the members that did say yes, not really comfortable with them vocally, I guess, meaning that they're not sure if their best foot forward would be that. The best foot forward Now.
Speaker 1:As a choir director, I have been faced with this often. I think, before we say anything more, it is also incumbent upon the choir director to make sure every voice in your particular choir is equipped to be able to sing, and I would say, independently. That's the choir director's responsibility and we do the best we can. We do the best we can to make sure that that is a reality. However, there are oftentimes where there are some voices that are just not as strong as other voices. So what you do in a situation like that, you surround those not so strong voices with the more anchored voices so that they could hear and try to get as comfortable as possible. If they should find themselves by themselves, which happens, that is something that does happen. There's some things that I had done I think I might have said this earlier in our tapings that I used to at the start of my choir.
Speaker 1:I used to give them music to just study, not necessarily music that we would really sing, but just give them music to study and pick out their part. Only listen for their part. Don't mess around in the tender section. If you're a soprano, just stick to the soprano part. I want you to hear that and mimic that. And you know, because I want you to be able to, I'm trying to make sure you have a decent ear. That's basically what I'm trying to make sure your ear is right. So when we come together as a collective, we'll sing that song, and that's how I can differentiate who's stronger where. And so I was able to put these pieces in place so that even if my strongest soprano isn't there, I won't call it the weakest soprano, but the little, less confident soprano is still able to, you know, sing the song.
Speaker 1:But we find that there are some choir directors who will decline the invitation, just say I'm not coming because you know those voices, I don't trust them, I basically don't trust them, and so we're just not going to come. So I would say to that situation like that, before you just get in the habit of declining, I think you should don't keep declining. I think that you should go back and start some training exercise, some exercises with that particular group, so that you will be prepared for it, because anything could happen. You know people, lives happen. Yes, yeah, lives.
Speaker 4:I've seen people get sick on the, on the platform, when we're about to sing. So anything can can happen, and it's one of those things. Also, where and to what extent is this about ministry versus performance? And we've said this, we've heard this before and it's been said before that there is a level of performance, because we rehearse, we practice, we want to give our best, but the weakest voices in that ensemble have rehearsed and practiced just as much as the strongest ones, so there is something to be said for just trusting God a certain point as well, because I mean, that's that's when it becomes about just this trust in the Lord and ministering with what you got.
Speaker 1:You have to trust God and then also trust the people. You got to have some, you know, I know we get frightened right, but you got to be able to trust they know what to do.
Speaker 4:Yeah, actually, as you mentioned, that it reminds me of many years ago when we had our high school ensemble and we were planning like to sing certain songs. And we were going to sing this one song and the one young man who was supposed to sing it, he wasn't allowed to come. He got in trouble and it got in ground and his mom was adamant that he was not going to come, so we had to find someone else to step up. And sure enough, we found someone to step up, and I remember that being such an encouragement, not only to the person that stepped up and sang the solo, but also to the choir, because they saw that it's not about oh, we don't have this person, so we can't sing this song. It's not about the person.
Speaker 4:Ultimately, we have to make it about Christ and about presenting the gospel and ministering to the people that were called to minister to. So in that instance it wasn't an invitation. We didn't have a choice. This was our own event. People were coming to our house and we had a whole slew of specials that we were going to sing and that was one of them and it kind of fit in with, I think, the theme of the service or something like that, and we just had to sing it and trust God, and he came through Right.
Speaker 1:And what thank God he came through.
Speaker 4:He came through because we were all playing.
Speaker 1:And it's something because and I have a flip story to that I was in a part of a choir and my teen years my teen years, and I had my daughter at the time and I could not go on a particular appointment with the choir, I was grounded. Yeah, that's exactly what happened. My mother grounded me so I couldn't go. Now I'm one of the leads on the higher. That's pretty popular, I'm one of the lead. So, and you know what's, what's sad, dorian, what I now think it's a real sad thing in Greg hey sorry for the delay.
Speaker 2:I was double booked tonight.
Speaker 1:Oh well, what I thought was very sad, that that song did not happen because I wasn't there to sing it. In retrospect, that was horrible. That was terrible because you know you never even consider and this is the director, god bless him, he's no longer with us, unfortunately but you never even considered to train. Yeah someone else.
Speaker 1:Yeah do it, because it could have been done had you trained someone else to do it. And I think, and then it to you and to your point, at what point Does it become, or should it become, more about ministry or God the performance? Right, because in that instance it was about performance. Yeah, it's gonna do with the ministry part of it. It was about performance, because the leader's not there. We don't do the song. The song is still effective, right, it's still a song, is still the song, it's still you, just never.
Speaker 4:And it was sad because I was that girl that was grounded and In some respects it's like the, the choir director, saying like we got a reputation to protect. We got a reputation to protect that. We can't have people talking bad about.
Speaker 1:Tonight is not the night tonight.
Speaker 2:Either that or me. I was paying him under the table to keep anybody else from singing the song.
Speaker 1:It was a set and I thought about the older I got because I was very young at the time, but the older I got like, wow, that is terrible that we're left in. And I listen. I wasn't the only one. There were other leads as well that we were not able. If they weren't coming, we were not able to sing those songs I spoke about. I'll never forget Thompson, milton Brunson and the Thompson community choir at the time.
Speaker 1:It was early, early years back in the 90s when we I heard them in live live for the first time and the girl who, particularly who leads this particular song that we went out there to see in here. She didn't show up, right, but the song was still some. They had a different lead and once that lead got to the mic and she looked, she was very unassuming, not looking anything like what the original lead looked. And so in our mind, our weak minds, we were thinking this is not gonna be good based on what we were looking at, based on what we were looking at and and because in my mind I'm thinking this is not gonna work. This, this girl don't even look like she know how to do it, but she opened her mouth. Yeah, was it a dry eye into play? We were wrecked. She's the entire room. Spirit of God had filled that place, so I had forgotten the original lead. I'm beyond, yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, I mean, I have to say something. Even and I know that I'm gonna sort of tag Tag that, this recording, but even last night we had six individuals.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, no, no stand there.
Speaker 4:Make the sound of what sounded like four or five times.
Speaker 1:And then that happened right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean I, yeah, you, yeah, we. I sat there and said these six people are producing that much.
Speaker 1:Exactly so it can happen. It can happen. What's the you, greg? Are you there?
Speaker 2:I think it is incumbent upon the choir director to have a wide Range of music in its arsenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the reason for that, of course, is to make sure that you can address this CRQ when that time comes. Yeah, I shared this in previous podcast and I think we can all agree that there are dependent singers and Independent singers. Right, and it behooves us as choir directors to make sure that we have music that can be executed by the dependent singers as well as by the independent singers. Now that repertoire may include music that has more Unison lines, less harmony lines or maybe fewer harmony breakouts, where there may be two-part harmony as opposed to three or four-part harmonies, mm-hmm. It may also include you choosing songs that do not require a soloist, don't have a verse, but it's more unison line again, and more full choir arrangements, less dependent upon a soloist, and so you want to prevent the dependent singers from feeling like they're not good enough, so that they feel like they are a vital part of the body as well and can still minister Despite the fact that the key soloists or the primary singers are not there.
Speaker 2:And I think, finally, that the church choir can take some pointers from the University choir or the show choir or the Broadway choir, and that is that they always have an understudy, because on Broadway the show must go on and in ministry we must still be able to minister, because if God is calling for a particular song and we decide, well, we can't do it because we don't have this particular soloist, I think it's a diss to the choir, a diss to the people and a diss service to God. I think an understudy or a second soloist for the same song should be a Priority.
Speaker 1:Now, that's my what say you, gregory?
Speaker 2:That's my two cents on the CRQ and since I was late getting here, I'm gonna give it back to you, mieta, to wrap it up well, I well.
Speaker 1:The bottom line and the focus should always be Christ. It should always be centered around him. And, as I stated earlier, for that choir director who might be struggling with situations like that, you're just gonna have to put in some extra work. In my, my opinion, you're gonna have to put in some extra work in your rehearsals, in your rehearsal time, so that these voices who want to minister, who really want to be able to do that, not just when the whole group can do it, but even if they're the only ones that can they want to be able to spread that message in song as well. So I would say to that choir director in particular Do your work do your work.
Speaker 2:Do your work and be sure to diversify your songbook, your tools in your two bag, so that you've got enough songs to cover any situation and it will manifest it when it needs to be manifested.
Speaker 1:So do your work.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the choir.
Speaker 2:Now, about last night, can we talk about the New Christian Tabernacle Church Choir anniversary or reunion? My goodness, you know there's nothing like a church choir anniversary. I haven't been to one in a very long time, but I was pleasantly reminded of the times growing up in the church where choir anniversaries would include sometimes four, nine, fifteen, eighteen choirs and nobody was competing. Everybody was there to do their best, singing whatever that was for the day, depending on who showed up, as we spoke about earlier. And it was standard procedure that the choir director would get up there and say a few words and then this infamous line we're going to do our A and B selection and get out of the way. You know there was this church lingo, this yeah.
Speaker 1:Get out your way, right.
Speaker 2:Exactly, church speak. That's it. That's it. But the opportunity to reminence and participate was incredible, from the processional right through to the spontaneity of forming a sanctuary choir where everybody is now picking up the song that was just sung was phenomenal. It's a little different from a corporate worship setting in that everybody is singing the same song. This was the type of corporate singing where everybody knew the parts and they were able to sing the actual parts. When you have these counterparts from some certain songs that a choir just finished singing and as they're walking off to go to their seats, the congregation picked it up and it continued. Just a kind of spontaneity and corporate singing I like to experience and we got to experience it that night.
Speaker 2:To witness 50 years of singing coming back together again, to see multiple generations within a single family in some cases was awesome and in my opinion, I think we heard some of the most authentic and some of the finest gospel singing in the area. So thanks for the invitation. We were delighted that we were invited and we were excited. Thank you for coming. I think the only thing that could have made the evening a little better would have been a little bit of Linda Stancil, linda Lorraine in my humble opinion it doesn't get much better than that.
Speaker 4:Well, I will say Greg Mietta's on. Lorraine Stancil said she has to be a guest on here. So she said she has to be a guest. So I heard it, mietta heard it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I heard it. Well, she was one of the first people I contacted when I first started the podcast, so she's aware she'll be here.
Speaker 1:Dorian was excited to meet her last night.
Speaker 4:Hey, let me tell you, I mean it had to be. I think I was in college, really In the early 90s, when I heard her on a couple of. I think I heard her on like JJ Herston, like some of his early stuff. I heard her do some other other smaller things and I was like, oh, there's that lady again. That could go really high, really high to go really high. Oh, definitely a privilege to meet her. To meet her for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, we will certainly have her on the podcast. I think a lot of people don't realize that she is also one of the Kirk Hartzinkers and has been for some years now. And what a blessing to have her representing the city of Patterson, the state of New Jersey, but not only that, but representing gospel music around the world. And there's so much we can say about Lorraine Stancil Lawson. But if I start talking about her now it won't make sense to have her on the podcast. We will have told all of her business. But she does come from a rich choir history, rich singing family, and there's so much more we're going to be able to hear from Lorraine Stancil Lawson and her choir experience as well. Miya, I'm sure your experience the other night was super special, but likely more different than ours because of the proximity.
Speaker 1:It was almost it was. It was very surreal, you know, because I was not a member of New Christian Tabernacle all of, of course, all of those years I came from another church, but when I came there I've been a member for over 20 years now and when I came there, what's amazing is those people that you saw singing last night. They were singing in the choir at that time. So what you saw last night were people who, who, who used to be there they've moved away, but they came back for last night. Some who, no longer singing the choir but still go to the church. They decided they wanted to be a part of that as well, like and I'll for example, peggy Bonds. Yes, I don't know if you saw the. Okay, now she has in that church one, two. There are four generations in that church from from her, just her. There's four generations of her families there. There's the Richers who I know. You remember them, greg.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's, there was about four generations in that choir of them as well. So watching that like, oh my goodness it's, it's bittersweet. It is bittersweet because it's a beautiful thing to see everyone come together again, you know, and and and still be able to serve, because no one's left God. You know, they just moved on to different cities, perhaps another church where they live. It was beautiful to watch all of that come together and and sing, because I viewed, I saw them. I kept seeing them through the lens of 20 years ago, and so 20 years ago, that's what I walked when I walked into New Christian Tabernacle. All those people that were standing here yesterday that were visiting, were actual members at the time and singing in the choir. So I just saw that and I told Desha I said this is incredible. It was incredible.
Speaker 1:This does not happen all the time. These moments like this we need to cherish and, don't forget, archive it, because what's happening now is there are generations that are, of course, after, don't even have a clue as to all of this. You know what this was, what was going on here. Some of the babies are like, well, who are these people? All these people come from you know? They my, my father-in-law, something I really admired of him. He taped everything. So there's a complete library with videotapes, vhs tapes with years of their services, years of people who have passed on, who have moved on. All of that stuff is archive. He made it his business to make sure that that stuff is archive so that those generations that are coming after will never forget. You know, it will live. It will continue to live throughout the ministry's time. It will continue to live. So for me it was amazing to watch. You know, even coming from I guess, I guess you will consider my family a legacy family.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure it's good but it's sad because our children, my children in particular, have no interest Interesting, they have no interest in music like that. My daughter, tiffany, she loves music but she's not in love with music like that, you know. She just it wasn't something she wanted to do, she was a more of an administrative type situation for her. You know, she can run your business but she was not very interested in the music portion where Kevin and Stephanie, they acclimate to that, you know. But my daughter and my other cousins, cj, who was passed on, kim and Greg, they were never interested in that, just never interested in the music. So it was, I guess we were the only my mother, me, even my aunt Brenda, who sings. She does sing but nobody knows it because she's, you know, very quiet.
Speaker 2:You know, Brenda always reminded me of the Jackie Clark from the Clark Sisters, you know unassuming. You've got Twinkie and Dorinda and the others, but here you have Lorraine and Linda and Brenda, and even your grandmother when she was here, and then, of course, yourself. Brenda was Jackie to me. You saw her. She was very unassuming, very quiet. When she sang, when she opened her mouth, you knew that there was something there.
Speaker 1:She has a beautiful tender voice.
Speaker 2:Maybe you guys should have started the Stansel. Sisters, stansel Sisters. I mean there was the Stansel Singers or something right.
Speaker 1:They did, and when I got a little older, as a teenager, they tried to drag me into it. I said oh no, oh no, no no, no, no.
Speaker 2:I can't do this I think had you done it, there probably wouldn't have been a GLT ensemble.
Speaker 1:Probably wouldn't have. That's right the.
Speaker 2:Stansels would be world renowned.
Speaker 1:It would have been a quartet group, but I don't know if I could have worked really well in a quartet I don't know. But it was, it was, last night was really special.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And I mean what was just interesting to me I mean I'm sort of an outsider looking in on all of this was just the fact that even when the tributes were done for the musicians, it was almost said to a person like, well, all three of the four of them, it was like this young man was here and developed the gift and is still utilizing it here in this congregation, and that I mean that just speaks to the power of music and what it can do to knit a community together. And even, as I think you said it, mia, I mean, as as you had all these folks coming back together who hadn't sung together probably in years, there was muscle memory there, so everyone fell in line. And I would say that, greg, if we had like a TSC choir reunion, we probably experienced the same thing.
Speaker 4:So that's something that's a choir in itself that individually we may be like what was that song? But once you get us around everybody else and you start playing that music and we start to say right memory, muscle muscle memory engage.
Speaker 4:They engage for sure, and so it was definitely a blessing to be there and to just see the family that is truly there at that church, and that's what every church is supposed to be. It's supposed to be a family, and so families have family reunions, and so it was. It was just great to be able to be there and be a part of it and just to see God's, god's faithfulness in so many aspects.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just told that my, my mother-in-law could have been there, but she was watching, she saw it all because that's fruit of their labor and that was the fruit of their labor. Now, my father-in-law, but of course, did not live to see all of this, but she's still here and she's still viewing. You know, just watching all the prayers, you know all the nights that they were up at night trying to figure out what are we going to do with these people that God has called us to. It's just, it was, it was. It was a beautiful thing to see, but I just so wish that she was in the room. She was at least in the room to see all of her children come home, because that's basically what it is.
Speaker 4:All of her children come home.
Speaker 1:even now she has a large family in and of itself. She has eight children. She had eight, oh wow. I'm sorry, I take that back.
Speaker 1:She had actually nine, 10 children she had 10 children and the blessing of that is all of her children have always served in that church and all of them have served there and they're still serving there, and that's why I made the statement regarding Deish. I think it is a lot to be said that he had never and he had the opportunity to do that go and serve in other ministries and work with their church choirs and pray and all that other stuff. But he chose not to do that. He chose to stay where he is to make sure that there's always music in the house. There's always music ministry in the house, and I'm like yeah, you're a good dude.
Speaker 2:He's a good dude for sure. You know how do we talk about yesterday on this podcast and not have him join us. So we're going to take a break and give you a moment to call him and get him to come down and jump on the microphone. All right, you're in the choir. So I think we need more choirs, we need more choir directors, we need more choir teachers. I think we need more of it in our churches, in our schools, in our communities. I think we need more. Arthur J Farrar the thirds in our society. Is there one in the room, in the building, anywhere? I am here, hey, bishop, all of you Doing well. Hey, we just wanted to express our sentiments and our thanks for a wonderful evening last night, our appreciation for what you do and the way you do it, for your commitment and outstanding service. Oh, thank you so much. Now, I'm sure your experience was very different from all of ours, with the preparation, with the song selection, with the getting people in and out of town. What was the preparation like for you?
Speaker 3:Well, I actually just sent out some song links to various members. I reached out via Facebook and via text message. If you want to participate, let me know. I'll send the links to you. You can get a little heads up. We only had three rehearsals, believe it or not. As a whole. As a whole, but you can inquire.
Speaker 2:That's what.
Speaker 3:I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:We're going to have choir rehearsals on any random Sunday, given our schedule, because there's also been different places around the state out of state. So we rehearsed very randomly and once a month, if that much, as a choir for the regular ministry. But we reached out and we scheduled three Saturdays before the anniversary and they came out in great number to support. Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Wonderful.
Speaker 3:Awesome experience. Most folks remember the song back in 1979, even Wow, wow, having sang with the choir in the 90s. Some of them they left the choir still part of the track but not in the choir and they remember the songs from way back in 1970, 90 was just amazing.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, See, I think there are two kinds of people who are part of a choir they're choir members. And then there are choir people. Choir members get their music. They come to rehearsal, they familiarize themselves with the parts and they expect you to do all the fine tuning and tightening the screws. Choir people come having learned their parts, having rehearsed their parts. They can help you teach the song to other choir members. Choir people are so engrossed in that music that they can not only help you teach it, but you can call them 15, 20 years later and they still know that music. And I think that's a little bit of what we saw on Sunday night. Absolutely Now, when you consider the other choirs and ministries that were represented Victory Temple, Creech Temple, Gilmore and so many others I think you need to be preparing for the 50 year celebration of all of these Patterson choirs. Oh my.
Speaker 3:Oh my Listen, I'm all in, and that's the main reason why we formed this Patterson City things choir a couple years ago because folks didn't have their own church choir.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 3:And it was a great setting back then, even when we recorded for the city choir.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they just the church choirs had, just kind of they're trying. Now they're trying, they really are trying to piece them together and bring it back. But at the time of city things nothing was happening at the time, yeah.
Speaker 1:And through that city sings people, those, and they were choir directors in that particular group, of course, and they got inspired a little bit to got to go back home and let's start it. Let's, let's try it again, try to put a little more effort into, you know, bringing that church choir back. Well, because I said this to you a while ago, you know people said let's bring back the choir, let's bring back the choir. Well, community choirs have always been around. There's never been a major shortage in community efforts. But the church choir was the choir that was suffering, absolutely they were, they were suffering, and so I thought I was trying to at least get people back in the swing of things. You know, try to get them used to doing it again. You know, because they, you know, got a kind of. They got kind of I don't know if you call it lazy just didn't feel like putting in the work, because it's work.
Speaker 3:It's definitely some work involved, and even the choir that we looked up to and we trained and tried to be like them they're gone. It's like that unveiled to me Wow, yeah, yeah. Even going to the Thomas Dordt convention back in July and August, that really just put another boost back in me just to see that so many people are still maintaining choirs throughout the country, and I mean old kids, I mean they were in strollers and they were walkers Go, scooters Go cartons. I mean once why they would be drove on the stage.
Speaker 3:They drove on, they drove on, they drove on the stage and they were sticking their hearts out and letting the people through, through the whole front row. They told me to be that old. Come on down, choir people.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, Dorian, they roll on.
Speaker 3:It was a sight I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2:Oh my.
Speaker 1:That convention is funny to me because they even have a registry for if you need a scooter. I'm telling you these people.
Speaker 4:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:So serious about choir. They coming in on broken pieces, they coming.
Speaker 4:They coming.
Speaker 2:Well, brother Dave, Mr Farar, thanks so much for the fine ministry on yesterday. We were totally blessed by it.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, it was, and thank you so much for the, for the invite and for being able to meet you all in person for the first, for the first time.
Speaker 1:And Greg, you missed it. Dorian and I we even had. Well, I didn't have any, but Dorian had some ice cream.
Speaker 4:Some coalations.
Speaker 1:Yeah coalations after a long time. It was a blessing to have you both in the room. It was good to be there.
Speaker 3:I've been emotional all weekend. This is for the rehearsals Especially. I'm saddened Folks came in from everywhere Texas, florida, georgia. I was just overwhelmed to sit there and tears couldn't get me started. I was just sitting there crying out in tears and even today I got a message saying can I have my place back in the choir? So I'm just ripped all over again. People trying to come out Face back in the choir, coming back to the church itself first and to be part of the choir again, wow.
Speaker 2:That's a good problem to have.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir, these tears are worth it. Well done.
Speaker 2:Well, you are a faithful, committed choir master, choir director in your own right, and I think yesterday the outpouring of love and support was a clear testament to that faithfulness and commitment. So well done, my friend, faithful servant in our church, speak. We can't pay you, but here's a token of our appreciation. Thank you, mi'eta, stan Zofarar and, of course, dorian Johnson and, in his absence, coleman Smart. And remember, if ever we put the messenger before the message, we have failed to present an unblemished gospel. I'm Greg Thomas. We'll be back again right here next week in the choir room.
