From somewhere in Maryland ….
It’s Day #2 of the Carthage Choir Spring Tour, and I can’t get over what a fun time this has been thus far …. despite the fact that I went into this trip with more than a few frustrations weighing me down. There was the matter of leaving Kathy behind- as well as the comforts of my own bed- for nearly a week- plus the prospect of long bus rides and less than optimal meals. There was the matter of having to miss Palm Sunday at my church for the first time in more than a quarter century. I was also unhappy about missing Kenosha Solo & Ensemble for the first time in forever. For all those reasons and more, I was not doing cartwheels as this trip began. I was willing to do my duty on behalf of a group that means a lot to me- but with gritted teeth and a bit of a sigh.
And then I hopped aboard the bus yesterday morning at 9:15- and in an instant I found myself swept up in all of the energy and excitement of those 48 young people and their amazing director, Maestro Eduardo Garcia-Novelli. All of them were yielding the first half of their spring break to embark on this tour, and I suddenly felt lucky to be joining them. (It helped that two of my guys from “Black September,” Matt Burton and Alex Heiting, were sitting right behind me. Their infectious energy and enthusiasm was hard to resist.)
And because the trip is being done without any sort of official tour manager, Dr. G-N is depending on me to be his helper and sounding board, which makes all of this even more worthwhile and interesting for me than it would otherwise be. So the gritted teeth have given way to a genuine smile- and the longer the trip goes, the wider my smile.
And one of the things that is making me smile the most is that this group of young people is exactly the kind of group with whom I would want to travel. They are high-spirited without being wild- and also exceptionally resilient and flexible. We have had small little bumps along the way- like a late bus at the Baltimore airport, a rather sketchy hotel in Rosedale, and a very late bus this morning at the hotel- but the students have managed to remain unruffled and positive. And more than that, there is a culture of pitching-in and helping-out that makes such a huge difference in how well a tour like this goes.
Still, for as much fun as the traveling part may be, the heart and soul of it all ….. the reason we’re here in the first place …. are the concerts, and last night’s opening concert was an invigorating success – exactly the right way to get things going on a positive note. It had its challenges, and one of the stiffest for me was that I had to play on an electric keyboard rather than an actual piano – and in dim light, to boot. (I was cursing my cataracts all night long.) But the worst moment came when my music flew off of the rack at one point, and it landed on a button that deployed drum sounds. Fortunately, this mishap happened about two seconds before an a cappella section was about to begin, which allowed me to hit the power button in order to turn the keyboard off and on again, which reset it back to its proper sound (without the accompaniment of drums!) It actually happened so quickly that most of the choir and audience had no idea that anything had happened…. which is the best kind of catastrophe to have. But what matters most is that the choir sang beautifully – and I’m sure that they will only get better from here, which is almost scary to contemplate!
Another reason to smile was just watching the students interact with our hosts – and our host families – at the supper last night, after the concert, and right before our departure this morning. One sweet little old lady took me aside at the church last night and whispered to me (as if se were sharing with me some special sort of secret) “it just does your heart good to see young people like this!”
I know what she’s talking about.
I have many memories of music tours, not only with Carthage Choir, but with Carthage Wind Orchestra, Wisconsin’s Ambassadors of Music, and Kenosha’s Band of the Black Watch and Catholic Youth Organization marching bands, and I can safely say that those tours were some of the best times of my life. For example, last night (LAST NIGHT) — actually, our first night on spring tour 2014 — I went to get myself some Kool-Aid out of the chilled dispenser, and the faucet stuck open; some of the guys and Corey Riedl happened to be there, and jokingly, they went, “Oooh, Corey’s spilling the juice!” To that I sheepishly replied, “Sorry, that was me…”
And then there was the time in Ireland when a bunch of us got together to watch the Packer game at the hotel in Killarney, and somehow we got to talking about David and Goliath. I said, “Hey, what about David Duncan and Goliath? Who would win then?” And who else but Brett Robertson would say, “Trick question; David Duncan IS Goliath!”