Today, I have the opportunity to sing for a fellow choristers memorial service. Singers. . . even in death we want song. We want to celebrate the music that has moved our hearts and touched us deeply. Our songs define us in many ways. The songs that resonate with us ; that strike a chord in us. . . Your instrument is your voice - an integral, intimate, living part of your very being. There is no separation between the singer and the song. Maybe that is it. Once a song has become organic to you and part of you - even if you die - the song creates a lingering remembrance of you. Choristers - no one really pays us much heed. No one knows if we are intimately engaged (okay, maybe some can guess, but its not always obvious). And it has nothing to do with the quality of my voice. I can be entirely engaged as a singer and not make a beautiful sound. The sounds that come out of my vocal apparatus are produced because I love to sing.
The type of song that means the most to me varies and can be of any genre. The songs that resonate with me are as diverse as "Bridge Over Troubled Water", 'Breath of Heaven", the entire Brahms Requiem, Morten Lauridsen, Mozart "Ave Verum", Be Thou My Vision. . . . and a holy host of others.
When I die, I can think of no greater event than to have all the people singing. . . joining in the grand chorus which I have joined in heaven. Hopefully, God will save a place for me in the choir. . and maybe we'll sing mixed up!
Rest in Peace George
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