A Burst of Song

Today I performed my semi-annual ritual of getting my choir music notebook assembled: Last term's music taken out and discarded; twenty new pieces of music copied, hole punched and placed in concert order in my notebook; song titles printed on dividers. As I perform this task, I think about the months ahead of learning each piece of music, rehearsing every week, how it will come together as a whole, and finally, sung - from memory - in concert. It's a mundane chore made exciting by imagining that finale.

I've sung with Aurora Chorus since 2009. We are a 100+ voice women's choir whose vision is "powerful women singing peace." Our conductor, Joan Szymko, is a world-class composer and arranger, so we have some of her spectacular music to sing. Most of our music is contemporary, but we also do some classics (Randall Thompson's Alleluia, Vivaldi) and a LOT of songs in languages other than English, which is very good exercise for the brain cells.

The choir has come to mean a great deal to me - the music fills me up, the women in the choir form a wonderful community of love and support, and it is good for my body, mind and spirit to sing this music every day. I am blessed.