The 2016 Spring Carthage Choir Tour has been riddled with all kinds of small complications and frustrations- thanks almost entirely to a bus company that shall remain nameless that has dropped more balls than it has managed to catch. Fortunately, this is an exceptionally mature and centered group of students and they have weathered every delay with impressive patience and grace. But last night, that patience and grace received its supreme test.
Let me set the stage: We sang a concert last night at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, which is located a block and a half from the U.S. Capitol Building. The congregation was founded in the 1860’s and at its peak – during World War Two – it boasted 3000 members, but its current rolls have dwindled to 400. But the hardy souls who remain are keeping it alive and we were happy to sing in such a beautiful space- even if it was for an audience of 20 people. (We knew going in that our audience was likely to be very small. Such is often the case with downtown congregations.) I was happy as well to be playing a lovely Steinway (which some of the guys of the choir managed to move down to a lower level of the altar area, so the choir could stand behind me.) And wonder of wonders, I finally played a concert in sufficient light so I was actually able to see the music! Heaven!
And once again, the choir was blessed to be singing in a beautiful looking space that also boasted lovely acoustics – plus it was a space that allowed the choir to stand comfortably in a formation at least roughly approximating what they were used to back home. The result was what felt like our best performance yet.
It was also a memorable concert in that the tenor in the solo quartet for the Mozart Coronation Mass – Jack Haggett – had to sit out the concert because of a serious case of the flu (complete with a fever of 102.7!) so another voice student of mine, Christian Aldridge, had to step in as his substitute- and did an absolutely fantastic job.
And although the audience for the concert was tiny, they were appreciative – and the audience included Kathryn Tobias, whose parents Bob and Trudy were cherished members of Holy Communion – as well as a lively Carthage graduate from the class of 1948, Wally Rossmuller, who was absolutely delightful. It was so fun to connect with him and some other Carthage grads who were there to cheer us on.
It’s after the concert that things began to go very badly. Our concert finished a few minutes before 9- and by 9:10 our bus was supposed t be in front of the church to pick us up and take us to the hotel where most of us were staying that night. Dr. GN called the driver earlier in the evening just to touch base with him and to make sure that everything was still set. It was.
Or so we thought.
9:10….. no bus. 9:15 …. no bus. 9:20 ….. no bus. 9:25 ….. no bus. Dr. GN called the driver, who said that he got mixed up with the directions and was not where he was supposed to be – but was now on his way, and would be there right away. 9:30 …. no bus. 9:35 …. no bus. 9:40 ….. no bus. At this point, someone called again- and at this point the driver said that he was running into some kind of problem because bus traffic was restricted in the area surrounding the Capitol. By this point, the entire choir has been standing there expectantly, bags in hand, waiting for the bus, for half an hour. 9:45 ….. no bus. 9:50 …. no bus. You get the picture. It was around 10 that the Dispatcher became involved in the transaction – and shortly thereafter we were informed that the driver lacked proper clearance to be driving in the restricted zone around the Capitol- and would only be permitted to do so with a bona fide police escort. (What is SO bizarre about this is that the bus that brought us to the church earlier in the day dropped us off right in front with no problem at all.) At this point, the dispatcher told us that the bus could not pick us up at the church at all- and that we would have to meet the bus at some place called Peace Circle. We looked on maps and could find nothing called Peace Circle- and the music director of the church, who has lived in DC for years, had no idea what Peace Circle was or where it was. It was at that point that the music director- Paul Leavitt – got on the phone with the dispatcher to try and broker some sort of reasonable solution. He pushed hard for the bus to come to a nearby intersection that would presumably be within easy walking distance yet outside of the restricted zone- but the dispatcher would not approve that. Around and around they went – 10:25 ….. 10:30 ….. 10:35 ….. until finally Paul was able to convince the dispatcher to send the bus to Union Station – which was a 15 minute walk from the church. It seemed the only way for us to get ourselves and all of our stuff to the bus. At that point, a couple of guardian angels sprang into action: a Carthage alum who was at the concert and stuck around until we departed was nice enough to give us the use of his van to transport several students who were under the weather- as well as any pieces of luggage that were not on rollers. Another good samaritan materialized in the mom of Alex Heiting, one of our freshman, who was there in a rental car- and offered to transport the large amount of bottled water, soda and other snack items for the road- plus things like our box of programs, our case of handbells, etc. With all of that taken care of, we set off at 10:45 for Union Station- led by Paul Leavitt, yet another guardian angel. At least it was a fairly nice night for a walk, but a 15-minute hike while carrying one’s luggage was not exactly a pleasant excursion. (In my case, I had a very heavy backpack- a garment bag- and large suitcase with which to contend.) But we reached Union Station in one piece and not too weary- only to realize that the bus was not out front as promised. Angel Paul Leavitt called the dispatcher again and learned that the bus was parked in the bus pick up area which is to the back of Union Station, so we set off through the main doors of the building and proceeded to make our way through Union Station.
climb a non-working Up Escalator ….. probably the most miserable moment in the whole experience …. except that it actually prompted as much laughter as anything because it was just too absurd to do anything except laugh. Finally, at 11:05, we climbed aboard the bus that awaited us- only to learn that this was an entirely different driver than the one originally assigned to us. He had agreed to serve as our substitute driver, even though he had just returned from a round trip to New York City – so we could only thank him for coming to our rescue. And off we went to our hotel in the suburbs ….. and to our long-awaited beds.
It was a rather miserable ordeal, although it might not seem like that big a deal. But when it’s been an incredibly long day – to have that kind of delay when we’re most tired was SO hard to take. And then on top of it to be caught in this awful conundrum of not knowing how things would be resolved was incredibly stressful. But through it all, the students maintained their spirits in a way that left me truly amazed. Dr. GN and I were furious and frustrated – and maybe a bit scared – but the students just took it all in stride, seeming to see it as an adventure of sorts. And it made me almost glad ….. ALMOST … that this happened to us – because it was a chance to see the True Colors of these young people. You don’t really how mature and centered people are until plans are turned topsy turvy and an already taxing schedule becomes MUCH more difficult. But they found a way to ride though it – and now I feel like we are ready for anything and everything that might confront us. In fact, if everything goes according to plan from here on, I will almost be disappointed. ALMOST. 🙂