For All the “Extra Milers”

I’ve always been impressed with and appreciative of those persons who give more than is required.   I call them the “extra milers” and they can be found at work, school, play, and most definitely, at choral rehearsals.  At least, that’s where I come in contact with many of my “extra milers.”  I’m lucky to have many committed singers in each of my choruses, but it is specifically the members of The Michael O’Neal Chamber Singers of whom I wish to speak today.  Within the past week and a half, these talented and hard-working vocalists have sung two phenomenal concerts and I am very proud of them.   A requirement for being a Chamber Singer is that he or she must also be a member of the regular MOS chorus, thus necessitating that between the two choirs a large amount of music must be learned!  The Chamber Singers have risen to the challenge and will now concentrate, with their fellow MOS members, on the Irish music to be performed in less than three weeks.

My point in sharing these thoughts is simple.  Primarily, I just want to say a public thank you to my “extra milers,” but I also wish to remind us all that life is relatively short, no matter how many years we have.  Therefore, let’s spend those years (and the months, weeks, days, hours and minutes that comprise them) doing things in which we can ultimately take pride.  So here is a heartfelt expression of gratitude to all of you who try to go the “extra mile.”  Add to that a word of congratulations to all of us (myself included) who have been blessed to have those “extra milers” in our lives.

Songs for Snow

Those of us living in the Atlanta area have just experienced our first real snow fall of the season, and it has been a beautiful site to behold!  It is also my understanding that for the first time ever there is snow on the ground in all fifty states.  Certainly, in some of those locations the residents would very much like to see it go away, but for us in the south it is a joyous experience.  Whether viewing it from the warm indoors, or venturing out for snowball fights, as I did with my wife and granddaughter, it is a marvel.

It made me think about the way choral composers have set words that remind us of this special time of year.  Consider John Rutter’s Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind, Morten Lauridsen’s Mid-Winter Songs, or that favorite at Christmas, Harold Darke’s In the Bleak Mid-Winter.  The Michael O’Neal Chamber Singers just sang a concert at the Falany Concert Hall of Reinhardt (soon to be repeated at the Alpharetta Presbyterian Church!) which included a beautiful set of songs by Eric Whitacre entitled Five Hebrew Love Songs.  The words are by his wife, Hila Plitmann, and the fourth song says, “What snow! Like little dreams falling from the sky.”  We are in the midst of snow and a very cold winter and I’m so thankful that we have meaningful choral music to accompany the experience.

Do you have some favorite winter songs?