Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A different kind of "Obsession Tuesday"

Today, I've got one thing on my mind, and that's children's choir. Sure, I'm super excited that the Top 11 are singing from the Lennon/McCartney songbook again this week, but I've got more pressing issues at hand.

I've got Christmas on the brain. Yeah, I know that it's March, but I like being prepared, and I don't want August to come and the kids not have something to sing. I thought that I had selected a Christmas musical, "Cooking Up Christmas", because I fell in love with the idea. The concept is completely cute--a church choir (made up of Paula Queen, Emerald Lasagna, Martha Steward, Betty Rocker, Alfred Brown, Rachael Day, and Bobby Grey) decide to bake treats for the community instead of having their traditional choir Christmas party. You can see why I chose it--it's pop culture related, a good inside joke. But I popped the CD in the car yesterday morning, and my heart dropped. The script is terrible, there are only a few speaking parts, and two solos. I knew that this wasn't going to work for our choir made of kids who are, at times, unenthusiastic and the others who get stagefright. I made it my mission yesterday to find a Christmas musical that would siut our kids.

It's a lot harder than it sounds, folks. I started the project yesterday afternoon around three, and didn't end until midnight. Sure, I took a two-hour break in between to eat dinner (turkey meatloaf..one of my favorites!) and do laundry, but the rest of the evening was devoted to children's choir. I perused three different publishing company websites, listening to the songs and looking at scripts if they were available, then Googling "Children's Christmas Musicals". My eyes were so bleary by the stroke of midnight, but at least I've narrowed it down to six musicals. I'm thinking about asking the pastor if the church can order the preview packs so that I can listen to them in their entirety.

I know this seems excessive, but I just want to put on the best musical I can each year. I want the kids to know how many different styles of music there are, and the many ways we can worship God and witness to others. I want the kids to be proud of the work they put into putting on the musical, and I want the parents to be proud of their kids, and know that they are leaving them in capable hands on Wednesday nights. I don't want people thinking that all we do on Wednesday nights is goof off. Most of all, I want to do the most I can with the talents and mission that God has given me. Is that really too much to ask?

Toodles!

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