Merry Christmas!

What a month it's been

I have heard it on good authority that there are people that go crazy with shopping and buying presents in this season. I don’t do that — it just wasn’t part of my upbringing and I can’t see doing it now. I also have no family to get together with, but there are other things to do in this season, particularly those involving music. This December, however, has been like no other. First there was our annual Classic Christmas service. I have done some version of this, singing in five different church choirs over the years.

But then there was our Christmas Concert. This one was distinctly jazzy, especially the middle part with the jazz trio. I learned most of the choir music, but then switched to designing, programming, and running the lighting when I realized that nobody was doing that. It was a simple design, as they go — our lighting system doesn’t do much — but there were 39 scenes. Never mind that I had never done it before. We had a full house, and it was a great success.

Tonight is the Classic Candlelight Christmas Eve service, starting at 11 PM and ending at midnight. I was scheduled to run screens for it and I proceeded to design the lighting too, 30 scenes (technically, 30 cues - the scenes repeat depending on what is going on). Still simple — I just adapted what I already had from the concert — and it was much less total time than what the concert had taken. Tonight I get to run screens with my left hand while advancing lighting scenes with my right. It’s not difficult, and I practiced at the rehearsal.

That’s been my life for much of the past month, along with eating, sleeping, church, and occasionally getting a little bit of consulting work done (not much). Not a whole lot of time to spend online here.

Well, see you in the new year. I’m thinking about exploring something new here on this blog in the coming month, or perhaps even sooner.