Thursday, September 25, 2008

Hard times

Tuesday at choir, our Director, Sterling, told us that the American Fork Music School had unexpectedly closed their doors when the investor who was funding the school announced they could no longer continue.
This school was for High School aged children. It had been compared to Juilliard and was even called it's Younger Sister in the West. Juilliard had even advised and helped this school's founder.

Our choir hired different bands and orchestras from that school to play in several of our concerts. These kids are really talented and it was fun to have them perform with us. They were scheduled to accompany us at our Next Concert. The Posters have already been printed advertising them. This left Sterling scrambling to find a band. The concert is the 17th of October. His wife said dinner "was awfully quiet tonight."

But true to his upbeat nature, he smiled and said:

"This world seems to be falling apart. We are worried about our retirement, our jobs, our bank accounts, our debts, the government, the war, cost of gas and many other things. But we still have our voices. We can still sing."
"And if all our funding falls apart (we are non-profit and depend on grants and donations), we will still be able to sing. No one can take that from us. We can always meet in a church building to practice and perform if we cannot afford to pay to rent a concert hall. And we will continue to sing through it all, because it lifts our spirits."

As long as he can lift his arms, he will continue directing this choir and we will continue giving concerts. His positive attitude is contagious and lovable.

Now you know why I drive 150 miles one way every Tuesday to sing in this incredible choir. I always come home uplifted and find myself singing all week. Even in my sleep. It gives me great joy to sing with such a talented group under the baton of such a talented man.

I hope in these hard times that we can stop to appreciate a sunrise, count our blessings and remember to continue to sing.

~a
ps I changed my play list so it sings when you click on my site, to sing to you. Hope this doesn't bother you.

4 comments:

Sailor said...

That was a good post. I think that is how you tell what really has meaning in life. If it is all about the money, it can be taken in a flash. If it is all about the money, it is often about pride. If it is about art, music, friendship, love, and family, it is about the real things in life.

Grandma Cebe said...

The closing of the Music School really is a sad story especially when the CEO of Sentry Financial (named in the article you linked) has a large home on 3 lots with a swimming pool in the neighborhood that I just moved out of. He can't pay the teachers, but he still has his big fancy house.

HiHoRosie said...

That's very sad about the school closing and one with such honor and history.

RisibleGirl said...

You are so right! Even though BJ and I are going through what some might think are tough times- we still sit together at night and appreciate how blessed we are in the things that truly matter.

It's all about perspective and appreciating the right things, right my friend?

I'm sorry about the school closing. That is truly sad- because I believe this sort of thing is so important.

xoxoxo

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