August 19, 2008

• New Beginnings

  Subtitle:  Summer’s End

  Sub-Subtitle:  Where Have I Been for the Past Two Weeks?

  New Beginnings….Summer’s End.  Seems like a bit of a contradiction there, doesn’t it?   The apparent paradox is best summed up by a phrase from the song Closing Time, by the band Semisonic; “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”.  That is how I feel about this time of year.  Summer is winding down, but I see new beginnings all around.  The flowers and plants are setting seed pods, readying for a new generation of life.  The nighttime air has a certain crispness to it that sends a shiver down my spine but adds spring to my step.  I feel invigorated by the lightness I feel in the air — leaving behind the heavy, torpid humidity of summer days and nights. 

  Last week I was at Choirboy Music Camp with three of my sons.  For our family, choir camp always marks the end of the summer activities.  Once camp is over our focus turns to preparpations for school.  Mark and Grant both came to camp as junior counselors, having “graduated” from being choirboys (due to voice change).  Isaac is still in the choir and attended as a camper.  I was on the kitchen staff.  It was Isaac’s second year as a camper and my third year as a staffer.  Traditionally, camp is where the music staff (the choir directors) make their decisions about who will be placed in which choirs.  Within the choir structure, there are 7 different choirs: Prep Choir for the very youngest singers (ages 4 or 5 through age 7), Training Choir for boys ages 8 and up who are just entering the program and need to learn the basics of singing (breathing, note reading, tonal memory, etc.), Resident Choir for boys who have completed the basic requirements to move beyond the training program and be considered for a performing/touring choir (they perform in local concerts).  This year (because of the growth of the choir program) a new choir has been added, called the Voyager Choir.  Boys in this choir will perform in local concerts and will take two or three short tours lasting 2-4 days.  They will not venture far beyond the state of Minnesota and some neighboring states.  The two previously existing touring choirs are the Nordic Choir (nationally touring) and the Viking Choir (internationally touring).  The Nordic Choir typically takes about a 3 week tour and have been to every one of the 48 contiguous states during the choir’s 30+ year history.  The Viking Choir tours abroad and throughout the US, traveling to such places as Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Austria, France, Scotland, Norway, Canada, Mexico, etc..   Their tours can last from 4 to 5 weeks.

  The turnover rate in a boys choir is quite high, as every year boys grow bigger, older, and more mature.  Once a boy’s voice changes (as happened with Mark and Grant) they can no longer sing in the “Boys” choir, but they can participate in the Alumni Choir.  Most boys experience their voice change at around age 14, and often this coincides with the time they are entering high school with all of it’s distractions, demands, and choices for extra-curricular activities.  The retention rate for the Alumni Choir is fairly low.  Out of the 10 to 15 boys that graduate from the choir each year, 2 or 3 may become regular members of the Alumni Choir.  Neither of my boys have chosen to sing in the alumni choir, although they have remained connected to the choir through their camp counseling and helping at other choir events throughout the year, and they are both active in our high school music programs, participating in both choir and band, as well as the annual school musical.

  Losing so many boys every year means that other boys have a chance to move into those open spots.  Isaac has been in the choir program for 3 years, beginning in the prep choir.  This year he was selected for the Nordic Choir.  This is a huge step for him — a new beginning, if you will.  It will be the first time he will be going on tour.  Understand — I will not be going along on the tour.  Only paid choir staff accompany the boys on their tours — those staff including the choir director, accompanist, prefect, and often the choir founder (who doubles as the bus driver).  Isaac is both excited and scared about this new chapter of his choirboy adventure.  Excited because he will be learning and growing and improving as a choirboy, but scared because he has never been away from his home and family for such a long time.  I am trying to reassure him that in the 10 months between now and tour time, he will grow not only musically, but also emotionally, so that the separation will not be a daunting as it seems today.  Both of his older brothers have been on these long tours and can also reassure him that the tours are fun-filled and adventure-packed — so much so that homesickness will be the furthest thing from his mind (well…..almost).  I am also reminding Isaac that for the duration of the tour, his home is the tour bus and his family is the choir.  They will look after him with as much love and care as I would (well…..almost).   

  After that long, drawn-out explanation, I hope you still have time to take a look at some pictures and watch some videos that I took at camp.  It was an exhausting week (for me), but so very rewarding.  I consider it a priviledge to be able to come to camp and be around this exceptionally talented, energetic, and well-behaved group of boys.  Here are some glimpses of what our week was like:

  

  The Main Lodge.  The boys rehearse their music in this building, and the kitchen and dining hall are in the lower level.  I spent on average 14 hours a day in that kitchen! 

   

   

   

   

  

  When I wasn’t working in the kitchen I was hanging out ove at Eagleview – just across the road and up the hill a bit from the main lodge. 

   

   

   

   

  

  Here I am hard at work, demonstrating how to prepare toast for 110 people in under 10 minutes! (We have a toaster that continuously cycles the bread through and we melt the butter and “paint” it on.

   

   

   

   

  

   

  One of the other cooks in our pantry.  We also had a wlk-in refrigerator and freezer stocked with food.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

  Relaxing on the porch of Eagleview.  We usually got about an hour break in the afternoon to put our feet up, while the boys were busy with their “activities” (everything besides eating, sleeping, and singing!)

   

   

   

  

  The activities included (I don’t have pictures of everything)

  Sailing;

   

   

   

   

  

  Swimming;

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

  (While swimming the boys would always try to manage to throw the counselor off the raft.  The poor counselors didn’t stand a chance, although they were bigger, they were usually outnumbered by about 20 to 1!)

   

   

   

   

  

  Crafts;

   

   

   

   

   

  

  Rocket building;

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Other waterfront activities;

  

  Paddleboats,

   

   

   

   

   

   

  kayaks, fishing, canoes, waterbikes,

  

   

   

   

  

  Archery;

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  BB guns (well supervised, of course), group games (basketball, soccer, wiffle ball, frisbee golf etc.)

   

  

   

   

   

   

  Indoor games:  foosball, ping pong, bumper pool.

  Then there is the MUSIC!!!!

   

   

  The Viking Choir rehearses — these boys find out at the beginning of camp that they have been selected for this choir.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

  The rest of the boys practice together and find out at the end of the week which choir they have been placed in.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

  Most of them end up being selected for the Nordic Choir.  The rest are placed in the newly formed Voyager Choir.  All of them are experienced singers and will be performing and touring to some extent in the upcoming year.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  A “Nordic” choir rehearsal:

  Announcement time:

  

   

  Isaac waits in nervous anticipation.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

   

  Hurray!  His name is called!!!

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

   

  Waiting to see who else will be with him in the Nordic Choir.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

   

  Is these tears of relief or panic?  Probably a little of both.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

   

  The first official gathering of the new Nordic Choir.

   

   

   

   

   

   

  

   

  These four boys have formed a special bond of friendship through the past year together in the Resident Choir.  They are all happy that they are moving to the Nordic Choir, and will be together strengthen their bonds of friendship and support each other through the demands and difficulties of this new choir.

   

   

   

   

   

  Presenting the brand new Nordic choir in their first public performance.  Their sound is beginning to come together after only 4 days of rehearsal.  Some of these boys are singing in harmony for the first time.

   

  Here is a bit of what more experienced boys can do with 4 days of rehearsal time.  Although this is sung in unison, don’t be fooled into thinking it is easy! 

   

  New beginnings……tonight we attend our first regular Nordic Choir rehearsal of the season.   And so it goes.

   

   

   

   

   

  • 5:07 pm
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