Central Manitoba Youth Choir

A few weeks ago we had the Central Manitoba Youth Choir come and perform at our school. Their repertoire had folksongs, Negro Spirituals and songs many other hymns. All were very well done and heartily enjoyed by the audience. They were directed by Stuart Sladden and their accompanist was Loren Hiebert. Their tour organizer, Al Thorliefson was here with them as well.

I loved their song from various music traditions and how those songs were performed: mixed, men, or ladies choirs. Their opening number was especially very interesting, with only some choir members on the stage area and the rest in other spots in the room, giving their song, Praise His Holy Name, a surround sound affect.

Unfortunately we didn't record any of the songs. Was going to add a You Tube clip here, but was unable to find anything recent. And the choir does change somewhat each year.

Music Triggered Memories

I always marvel how music can magically take you back to a place in your past, just by hearing a few strains of a particular song. Today, I’m going to allow some Christmas songs to take me on a journey down memory lane.

·         O Come of Come Emmanuel – Without fail, when I hear this one, I am at the Deer Spring Bruderhof in Connecticut, which actually no longer exists. I spent one Christmas there many years ago and often throughout December I sang this song in the huge communal dining room with the Bruderhof members or with it with my host family, the Warners. I remember all the wonderful Christmas festivities that I experienced there. One of my favourites was watching an outstanding performance of ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’, by a High School group that came from another Bruderhof community in New York.

·         Tomorrow I love you – This is not really a Christmas song, but it has Christmas memories for me. We had a cassette (Remember those?) of this song. I’m not even sure who sang on it. However, a few lines from the song somehow got stuck in my brain. For many years, at one point during Dec. the 23^rd I would belt out “Tomorrow, I love you. You’re only a day away.” Today still, my mom sometimes chuckles, “Linda hasn’t sung her song yet.” Like the 24^th wouldn’t arrive until I did.

·         Der Tag der ist so Freudenreich (a Day that is so rich in joy) Was one of my dad’s favourite Christmas songs. I hear him sing in a strong, deep voice for all the Christmases that we had him with us. Today, I’m blessed to count this as one of the beautiful memories my dad left us. Our first Christmas, after losing him in October 2006 wasn’t easy, especially singing this song. We’ll always miss him, at the same time we rejoice that he's celebrating Christmas in heaven.

·          Still, still, still weil’s Kindlein schlafen will (Still, still, still, 'Cause baby wants to sleep.) Except I couldn’t tell my heart to be still, or maybe it was heading towards ‘too still’.  I was about 15 or 16 and our choir sang for the Rotary Christmas Festival in Portage – my first time of performing for a big audience of mostly people I didn’t know. Before going on stage we waited in a narrow, stuffy hallway and I thought they’d have to pick me off the floor before our turn came. I somehow survived, but then we had to step over about a hundred cables… well ok not that many, to get to the stage area. Miraculously, I didn’t trip and my gummy- candy knees held out through our two songs, finally we filed through the audience…and I wondered why people choose to do this for a living.

·         Silent Night – this memory is more recent. At our annual Christmas concert a few years ago, one little boy did a solo, singing the first verse of this carol. I can still see him standing tall and straight, serious expression, singing with a beautiful clear voice, “Sleep in heavenly please. Sleep in heavenly please.” Needless to say, the audience loved it.

 

Your turn, do you have a Christmas song that triggers a special memory?

'O Lord, We Praise You'

Singing has always been an integral part of the Hutterite way of life. This includes singing with our families, groups of friends around camp fires or for communal meals. Singing together is instilled from a young age when children sing with their Preschool teachers at Kleine Schul or even before than with their parents and older siblings. It's very common for young children to know many songs from memory, even though they don't fully comprehend the words.

One day I left my Kindergarten class with some books, while I went to get something from another classroom. What I found when I came back caused me to be proud and amused at the same time. They were sitting in a semi-circle, singing (German songs) their hearts out, each with a German story book in their hands. The melodies were very good, but the words still need some work! What really got me chuckling was, while they were singing, going from one song right into the next without a pause, one little boy turns to his friend beside him asking for the page number. I"m glad I thought about capturing this priceless moment on video! Would love to add it to this blog, but I'm not so sure all parents would appreciate that. You'll have to come for a visit, than I'll show you.

Songs also bring comfort and strength at funerals and wakes and unites us as we grieve with those who've lost a loved one. At weddings and showers there's lots of singing as we share in the joy of the bride and groom.

Most colonies have more than one choir -- children, young people, or a community choir. In recent years two multi-colony choirs were formed in Manitoba: The Western Manitoba Hutterian Youth Choir and The Prairie Praise Choir in the two You-Tube clips:

                                      

Those who sing songs in the Spirit

hear every word with deep thoughtfulness,

consider its true meaning,

why it has been used,

and how it may be of inner help to them.

Those who sing this way

offer praise to the Lord,

to improve themselves and others,

and to be encouraged to live

in devotion to God.

To sing thus is to sing well; any other way is in vain.

Peter Reidemann (1506 - 1556)