"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing....Enter into his gates with thanksgiving......" (Psalm 100)
Preaching to the Choir
"Just a closer walk with thee..." the sopranos and tenors began. As they held the last note, those of us in the alto/bass section chimed in with a deep, low "Just a closer walk, walk with thee...". The sopranos and tenors then continued. "Jesus, grant my humble plea....". "Stop!" The music professor suddenly commanded. "There is something that I need to say."
We were sitting in the music room on the Schuylkill Campus of Penn State. It was the autumn of 1985, a little after twelve noon. That was when the Schuylkill Chorale met with the music professor, who I will call Mr. Holland. We met on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to practice songs for the Winter Concert and other public events. I named the music professor after the main character in the 1995 movie "Mr. Holland's Opus". Besides both being music teachers, the two men shared a deep love for music and maintained a similar philosophy about it. We received only one liberal arts credit for participating in the Chorale but most of us were there for the enjoyment of it, though you couldn't prove it by our performance that day. Mr. Holland's complaint was that we were making a walk with Jesus sound about as exciting as taking out the trash.
"You know, music isn't just about hitting the right notes and singing the right words." Mr. Holland said, "It's about expressing emotion. Last weekend I was at a wedding. The groom sang a song to the bride. He was singing about his love for her. The emotion he put into that song was so real and so strong that everyone in the room had tears in their eyes. That's what music is supposed to do. It's supposed to make you feel something! You may not be able to relate to what is in this song but you have to put more emotion into it. Think about something that you love. I love music. For you it may be something else - like, I don't know...maybe...computers! Find something that you're excited about and put it into the song."
I felt bad to hear him say that because I really was excited about Jesus. It was just too late in the week and I was tired. I was trying to hang on until I could get a short break from all the responsibilities of my first semester of college. I couldn't sing worth a darn. Mom said I inherited her singing voice which was as low as a man's voice. I could never sing in the right pitch. To make matters worse, I also couldn't read music, so I was often singing the sopranos' part instead of singing with the altos. I only took part in the Chorale for one semester. The following Spring I chose instead to help the Psychology professor with a research project and that activity took place at the same time as Chorale practice. So my membership in the Chorale was only a few months long, but I learned many things from it, not just about music, but about life.
Serving Through Song
Within the Chorale there was a smaller group of singers referred to as the Tapestry Group. Somehow in spite of the fact that I couldn't sing, couldn't read music, and we had to audition to became part of the Group, I was one of the members chosen to be part of it. Mr. Holland had big plans for this small group. We were to spread our voices all over the community. He had us booked for a Sunday service at a local church, a center for the intellectually disabled, a nearby nursing home, a business luncheon at a local hotel and the Schuylkill Haven Senior Citizens Center. I always thought of community service as simply tending to physical needs - like serving food to the poor at a soup kitchen. Mr. Holland showed me that the spirit needed nourishment as much as the body. The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) took on new meaning as I watched this group literally use their talent for singing to make a difference in the lives of others.
Our first public performance took place at the church in early November. We stood up in front of the congregation singing various hymns at different parts of the service. Between songs, we joined the rest of the congregation in their pews. The minister gave a sermon about gratitude. He talked about the poverty that he and his wife experienced in the early part of their marriage. They were so poor, he said, that they couldn't afford to buy furniture. They had an orange crate that they used as a table. The years passed and they accumulated more financial resources. They were able later to buy furniture. However, they held onto the orange crate. "I need that crate" he said. "I need it to remind me to be grateful for what I have, and not to take things for granted." His sermon blended well - in that service a few weeks before Thanksgiving - with one of the songs we sang that day - "Alleluia" by Larry Gatlin:
"May all our alleluias, when spoken and heard, be heart-felt thanks to thee, dear Lord, and not just lovely words,
and may each passing moment 'til the ending of our days, be filled to overflowing with never-ending praise....
Alleluia! Alleluia! Allelu-u-u-u-ia!"
We stood tall and proud as we sang that song. The notes were perfect, the words were perfect, and there was plenty of emotion in our singing. I guess everyone was thinking about computers!
An Unspoken Understanding
When transitioning from a religious high school to a secular college, it was an adjustment to go from being in a place where everyone shared similar beliefs and talked openly about them, to a place with people from many different faiths or no faith. It felt strange to be in a place where talking openly about faith could offend someone. I quickly found though, that God was everywhere and that most of us, at the deepest level, had a similar connection to Him. As it got closer to Christmas, we began singing more carols and fewer hymns. However, a handful of singers began gathering in the corner of the room before each performance, singing the song we sang in church, "May all our Alleluias, when spoken and heard..." I thought it was strange for them to be "practicing" that song as it was not on the agenda for any more of our performances. It was not long before I realized that they were not practicing. They were offering that song as a prayer for the performance! No one ever said it, but it seemed to be an unspoken understanding between all of us. More and more people gathered with them to sing that song before each performance. It was a ritual that was observed religiously, though it was never officially identified by anyone to be what it was.
We gathered in a room behind the stage at a Center for Intellectually disabled people - probably the Hamburg Center - for one of our performances. One of the directors or staff members came back to welcome us and to prepare us for the audience we were about to sing for. "They are very friendly." I remember her saying. "They will walk right up to you and talk to you. Some of them may want to hug you. If you are not comfortable with that, it's okay. You can just say..." Before she was finished talking, one of the clients at the center poked her head in the door and the singer next to me yelled out a loud, friendly "Hi!"
When we heard that we would be out on stage in only a few minutes, everyone quickly gathered in a circle, facing each other. We all began singing, "May all our alleluias, when spoken and heard..." As I sang, my eyes were focused on the eyes of the director, who was watching us closely. "She doesn't know it is a prayer" I thought. She smiled as she looked from singer to singer. She didn't have to know it was a prayer to know that it was beautiful.
A Joyful Noise
In December, we walked through the halls of a nursing home called Rest Haven that was located just behind the Schuylkill campus. We stopped at various rooms and sang Christmas carols to the residents there. We couldn't stop at every room and a woman who heard the singing from another room called one of the girls over, and asked, "Is it Christmas time?" The girl felt bad to realize that some people are so disoriented that they don't even know what season it is. On the same day we were introduced to a very oriented woman who was celebrating her 107th birthday! She sat there with a birthday cake in front of her, talking with us. I look back now and remember us - the young people of the time - singing to the old at Rest Haven and the Senior Citizens center. By just standing there singing, we had broken out of the stereotype that people often had about the young being lazy and self-centered. There was a surprise for me at the Senior Citizen Center but I have chosen to wait to write about it later. There were just too many memorable experiences from my time in the Schuylkill Chorale to be included in just one piece of writing!
"I've never been inside this building" Mr. Holland said, in his opening comments at the senior center. An old man with a sense of humor then yelled out, "In forty years - you'll live here!"
It has been exactly forty years since my first semester of college when I sang in that Chorale. I kept a journal that semester, writing about everything that happened. On the very last page I scribbled down the words to the song, "Alleluia" and referred to it as "The Penn State Prayer Song". None of the other songs that we sang that year stayed with me the way that one has. I still sing it frequently as I do boring chores or look for something in the garage. It lifts my spirit and brings me joy. I still can't sing worth a darn. I'm sure the pitch isn't what it should be, but when God is the only one listening, it doesn't matter. I think there is a reason why Psalm 100 calls it a joyful "noise" - because God knew that "noise" was all that some of us had the ability to make. Not everyone can be a professional singer. We can all however, put a lot of emotion into our songs - and our lives. I know I will be singing that song for as long as I live, and when I sing it, I will not be thinking about computers!
I recently googled Mr. Holland's real name to see if I could determine his current whereabouts. Unfortunately, I didn't come up with anything. Maybe I should check out the Senior Citizens Center!
"Music is a world within itself with a language we all understand!
With an equal opportunity for all to sing, dance and clap their hands!"
Lyrics from "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder (1977).
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