Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: This Is Christmas

“At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.” Thomas Tusser

 For the month of December, I’m rerunning some Choral Ethics blogs from years past with a few modifications where needed. Two of my MOST REQUESTED December Blogs will be making their yearly appearances. Happy December! ~MLGA

Today is the day before Christmas Eve. Right now, it seems to be better than it was last year. We are still required to wear MASKS in public and I have to share with you, wearing singing masks is something I may never get used to—who knew my face could sweat like that? But I will wear a mask no matter how uncomfortable I feel, until we get the “all clear” to do otherwise.

This is Christmas, Christmas 2021, and while things ARE better and we ARE approaching more “normal,” it’s still different from what we are used to.

Church musicians, I feel for you. Most of you are probably able to worship in your sanctuary, with some restrictions, such as social distancing and those above-mentioned singing masks. Very few of you will be doing exactly what you usually do and for that, I am so very sorry. I’m sure it was difficult to make the decisions you had to make but last year’s Advent and Christmas experience should have helped inform how you handled things this year. I hope you were able to feel good about your decisions.

I’m willing to guess those of you who direct school choruses were able to have holiday concerts, with restrictions. Were you able to figure out the best way for you to do so in your present situation? I hope you were able to sing your concert IN-PERSON with your students, and their parents were grateful for all your hard work.

Community chorus directors were probably able to have a holiday concert this very strange year, again with restrictions. We are all doing the best we can, and I hope you know you are doing everything you can possibly do; please don’t second guess yourself.

It’s another Holiday Season of phrases like “doing the best we can” and “wish we could…….” and “how are you holding up” as part of our daily conversations. But we are “doing the best we can” and we do “wish we could….” and we are “holding up as well as can be expected” and that’s fine. With our usual expectations again thrown to the wind, perhaps it’s time to modify and accept and just get on with it with as little drama as possible.

There is some hope for the New Year as things begin to really open up, mandates are lifted, and we can go about the business of making music nearer to normal.

I wish you a Merry Christmas this year, most enthusiastically. And most importantly I will wish you Comfort (some small comfort) and Joy (some small joy) in your life. It is the small things, I’ve learned in the last year and a half, that are the most important.

Until next week, be well and be safe!

I am not able to take my Choral Ethics Blogs to my chamber choir’s Facebook page today. Hope to see you again next week!