Choir 'Round the Internet

Here's what I've seen choir related around the internet lately:

A beautiful story about a visit to church where the unexpected happened . . . By the end of the song, I didn't know whether my chest was going to burst with exultation or whether my eyes would explode first with tears of joy. It was the first time I've ever been enveloped in that moving of a church moment; perhaps born out of my current "sheep situation" but I didn’t think so. I was wholly moved to collapse.

A great review of a Chanticleer concert . . . . In each of these works, the men sang soprano-alto-tenor-bass, traditional four part "mixed" choral music. On the second half were more traditional works from the male choral repertoire--for instance, the exquisite Four Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi by Poulenc or the sharply rhythmic "Dulaman," spitting out the Gaelic tongue-twister that was even more engaging than their recording . . .

Eleven singers memorialize a friend killed in a school bus crash with "Sing me to Heaven" . . . The smallest group that performed at the Minnesota Choral Arts Finale could have been the most inspiring group of singers. The 11 singers from Pelican Rapids High School looked tiny in comparison to the grand stage of Orchestra Hall, but their voices may have been the loudest.

Dealing with a lost dream of singing in a professional chorus . . . I overheard after church choir rehearsal today my choir director encouraging someone to audition for the PPC. And it suddenly became clear that I have been deluding myself. I'm just not at that level and I'm not going to be. And, you know what?, this is a really, really painful discovery. I think what makes it all worse is that singing professionally was sort of my last dream that I hadn't let go of yet.

And Chicken Betty.