Monday, July 06, 2009

Sunday Band

Yesterday marked my debut with the Friends Church band. I loved it. Yesterday felt a little like coming home.
These last 3 years have been the longest stretch I've ever gone without singing in a group- whether a choir or a band. I missed it. A lot.
I'm not the best harmonizer (I can sing some tenor lines above the melody, but many people do NOT want someone up there screaming as high as I can sing. I'll need to do some extra work to get my top two notes back, but I can still sing up to an A above the G clef. Back in my hey-day of college choirs and two hours of vocal work a day I was singing more like Julie Andrews or Sandy Patti...), but I can sure sing a solid melody line.
Jake also played guitar and sang, which he hasn't done in about 8 or 9 months. For reasons all his own, he felt the need to take a break and stick closer to home.
I'm so glad to be making music with him again. Since that's how we got to know each other (playing in a band together) it's sweet to revisit that part of our relationship. I love playing with Jake- He's such an amazingly gifted musician. I'm completely mind-bogglingly jealous of his ear and his ability to pull a song out of the air. After years and years of playing in bands and singing in choirs, I still don't have an ear like his.
Ask him to tell you the story of how we met. I can tell it, but it's way more fun to hear him talking about me stealing his job, because he just loves telling about how God works...

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The girls were so good at the rehearsals. I honestly can't believe how well they behaved! Since my mom's gone we had to bring them to the Wednesday night practice. I packed crayons, paper and some toys, but mostly they just ran around the auditorium. They played and climbed, danced and sang, and drew princess pictures.
Our pastor came in for the last half hour or so of rehearsal and they immediately glommed on to him- sat on his lap, talked to him. Deborah even drew him a picture. He has three teenage boys, and after the rehearsal he stopped us and told us how much he enjoyed them, and made the comment, "Girls are really different than boys." Yup. It's the truth. I had no idea there would be so much PINK in my life at this point.
On Sunday morning they came to rehearsal with us at 7 a.m. Blech. We were ten minutes late, which I thought was pretty good for all four of us. And they were good then, too! Far more sedate- mostly sitting, coloring or crawling on the floor. They explored under the stage extension, and left their shoes under there. I thought they'd be all whiny and tired, but they weren't. I had packed snacks for them the night before- a banana, PB crackers, fruit leather- so they were able to eat when they got hungry.
I was so worried about how grouchy they'd behave, but they were amazing. I was delighted and pleased by their behavior.

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