Noisy voice in the choir

Being an early riser, I get to hear the birds wake up. This time of year the voice that sings loudest is the Cardinal and its persistence makes me think it’s vocal cords must get sore, evidently not! There are other birds singing but none as loud as the Cardinal.

I’ve been involved in choral music since a very young age and as a choral ensemble the perfect sound is having all the voices blend. When one sticks out then it isn’t choral music the way it was written. I sang tenor and we had a voice in our section years ago that just had to be heard. Listening to the Cardinal in the bird choral group this morning made we think of the voice in our choir that just had to be heard.

While the ‘Cardinal’ was still in the choir we had a guest conductor at one of our concerts, one I knew quite well. His son and I sang together until they moved to Southern Michigan, He became head of a prestigious college music program and then to London to conduct. Although he and his wife retired to Traverse City he never quit conducting. At a break during the dress rehearsal for our concert I was sitting alone and he came to sit with me. He ask if the ‘Cardinal’ in the tenor section was bothering me and I told him yes. I really follow vocal dynamics the composer uses to frame their music…it’s what makes the notes on the page music. He shared with me an experience he had as the conductor at Interlochen Arts Academy with a tenor that was the ‘Cardinal’. This certain person became a well-respected soloist, just not a good chorister.

I’ve never forgotten that talk or the man that sat with me. I was fortunate to be able to sing at his eulogy conducted by his son, the very son I had grown up with in music before they left Traverse. I and most of the choir were in tears at the end of the singing. They were tears of the loss and tears for the beauty choral music brings to the soul.

There is another joy that I experienced Saturday at the nursery. For me it was a symphony of color. We received a truck load of plants Friday afternoon that Earl and I helped unload. Jeri, Tom, Renee and I got them into the nursery Saturday morning, (I had given the crew Saturday off on account of air quality, but Jeri and Tom offered to help get plants into the nursery). I stood back Saturday afternoon to get a sense of where the nursery was that day. I wasn’t brought to tears but brought to joy!

Here we are in the last week of July and the nursery is flush with color, our perennial selection is very nice and for the most part our trees and shrubs look good. The duds go to the ‘second chance lot’ and it’s open every day we are open. You don’t have to wait until autumn for a sale.

I love music, plants, my co-workers and the Cardinal. All make my small place in this world a better place and the Cardinal will continue to sing loudly.