I think I will long remember this as first day that I actually felt what it’s like to have all of the blood drain from my head in one fell swoop – and I’m sure you know the moment to which I’m referring, because I suspect that you might have experienced something similar. For me, it was right around 3:30, after a busy day of nonstop voice lessons and classes that I brought up Yahoo on my computer screen and saw the news. . . the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 780 points. Instantly I felt my face go pale and cold and I actually had to catch my breath from the sheer shock of it. And I’m not even some big-time investor who follows Wall Street closely or begins to understand its inner workings. Heck, I don’t know Fannie Mae from Fannie Flagg and don’t much want to know- but even I in my abject ignorance know that a single-day drop of 780 points is a very bad thing, and just one more indication of the sorry mess in which we find ourselves as a nation. And the Wall Street crash came right on the heels of the news that one of my very favorite people in the world, former Carthage College President Alan Anderson, passed away last night. Such a gentleman. Such a precious man of God. And one of my biggest fans, I am so honored to say. The news of his death made the world seem a little darker and cloudier still.
So why the “Singing in the Rain” heading? It’s because this day – a rather rainy day, both literally and figuratively – also yielded some wonderful surprises for me, and I find myself drawn to those sweet moments and holding them close. Chief among them is that three times throughout the day, when my office phone rang, it turned out to be someone who wanted me and wanted my music. One of them was my former student, Paul Marchese, who has begun a new high school choral job this fall and is doing great – and who wants me to come as a guest clinician sometime this year. Another call came from yet another former student, Derek Galvicius, who was asking for permission to use my TTBB arrangement of “Rise up Shepherds and Follow” for his high school guys, who are apparently an exceptionally strong group. And finally, I got a call from a fellow Luther alum who is organizing a reunion choir event this coming summer for singers who have sung under Weston Noble – and apparently Mr. Noble hopes very much to use my Amazing Grace arrangement for the event and hopes that I can perhaps be his accompanist, as well. What’s funniest about it is that I almost never answer my office phone when I’m teaching lessons – but I was expecting a call all day regarding President Anderson’s memorial service, so I kept answering- and every time it turned out to be one of these lovely surprises. And come to think of it, the fourth time I answered the phone, I heard the voice of a former student who left Carthage at the end of last year because of a complicated situation at home, but who believes now that he can return in the spring- which is wonderful news indeed. It started to feel like if the phone had rung one more time, it would have been the Powerball people calling to let me know that I was their big winner.
I don’t know that on a more normal day I would have been so highly aware and appreciative of each and every one of those phone calls – but on a day like today, each call was like another helping of sweet manna in the wilderness.
By the way, not too many know that the song “Singing in the Rain” was not written for Gene Kelly for the 1950’s MGM film of the same name. . . but was actually written way back in 1929. Think about it- one of the sunniest and most optimistic of songs was actually composed as America entered the Great Depression. It just goes to show you – There’s nothing noteworthy at all about Singing in the Sunshine – but when we manage to Sing in the Rain, that’s something to celebrate.
Pictured: Singing the song “Singing in the Rain” with the Racine Symphony for their final Pops concert of the summer.