h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This journal entry is being written at the suggestion of Galaxy Babe. She's had a rather rough year, and requested that her friends post merry journals. So here goes:

My church had it's Christmas cantata this morning at the 10:15 service. It was a "homegrown" cantata, not the usual extremely formal cantata that's written to be performed by a choir of thousands, with elaborate musical scoring and dozens of parts. No, this was essentially a collection of classic carols, modern carols and some black gospel songs, interspersed with a few appropriate readings.

Oh and before I forget, the only carol the entire church sang today (before the cantata started) was Silent Night - accompanied only by guitar, just as it was originally. Granted, the guitarist who accompanied us tends towards a country/western sound, and I doubt that's the style it was originally written in , but it still was sweet to sing it to guitar accompaniament, rather than with the organ or piano. The only thing better is the way that we used to always sing Silent Night while the choir sang Peace, Peace to end advent season services. Lovely sound, the two pieces of music blend beautifully. I'm not sure why we never do that any more, but choir directors come and go, and some have their own preferences for what music to use

At any rate, back to the cantata, but first a little bit of background:

I attend a church. No, not an actual rainbow, but despite the fact that the older members of the church are all lily white , recent newcomers have been from all over the world. We have a newlywed couple from Togo, a small family from Rwanda, a large family from Kenya, a young family from the Phillipines, and an hispanic family in which some of the members don't understand English very well (or not at all), plus a couple of racially blended families. Hence, it's what is sometimes known as a church, with members having all different skin tones in the "rainbow"... And who speak in all sorts of accents, too. You'll understand why this bit of information is important in a little bit.

So first off, this cantata was a conglomeration of various Christmas music from various genres written in the last couple hundred years, including (but not limited to) "What Child is This?", "O, Little Town of Bethlehem", "Mary's Little Boy Child", "Amen, Amen" (remember that one? Sidney Poitier sang it in "Lilies of the Field" with some nuns), "Some Children See Him", "Mary Did You Know?", "Happy Birthday Jesus", "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" and "Away in a Manger". Some of the music was accompanied by piano, some by organ, and some of it was acccompanied by CD recordings. There were a few solos and speaking parts, as in all cantatas.

The main speaking part was of Mary, reminiscing about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus.

It might surprise you to know that Mary was a black woman from Togo, with an extremely thick French accent. At least that's what Mary was was in our cantata! Seriously though, they needed someone who was fairly young, but old enough to handle reading the extensive lines required. There simply aren't many young women in that church, and among the few there are, she was probably the only one who was able to not only attend rehearsals, but would also definitely be available for this morning's cantata. She did a good job though - despite the fact that it was a bit difficult to understand her at times.

I'm used to certain people in the choir getting all the solos, and the ones who did solos did not disappoint. They're not all excellent singers, so if you're looking for musical perfection, you'll have to look elsewhere. But they have the heart to give it their all,. and that's much more moving than singing something note perfect, with no feeling at all behind it.

But surprise of surprises, this morning, they had a few extra soloists, and they were people who aren't even in the choir normally. For instance, the Sidney Poitier lines in "Amen, Amen" were done by our lovely black woman from Kenya, and her husband did a solo part on a song with the children's choir. Oh and they had two of the children (who were all dressed as angels or shepherds) sing a duet for part of "Happy Birthday Jesus".

So anyhow, I was sitting there enjoying every bit of this (even the occasional missed note - it's endearing that way). One of the really good soloists was in the middle of "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" when suddenly...














... my cell phone rang!



I'd forgotten to turn it off, or at least switch it to vibrate, and instead had left it on loud. To be fair, I very seldom *ever* get a phone call, and up until very recently, I could never even get a signal on my phone when I was inside the church building, so I'm just not used to having to turn it off before going in for church.

If I'd been sitting in the back of the church where I could have ducked outside unobtrusively, it might not have been so bad. But noooooo... it was crowded there this morning because extended families showed up for the cantata, so I ended up sitting in the very front.

If I had a normal ring tone, it might not have been so bad. But nooooo... a couple weeks ago, I downloaded a new ringtone to my phone because I was having trouble hearing the pre-installed ring tones when my phone was zipped inside my purse.

And the acoustics in that sanctuary are nearly perfect, in that it doesn't matter where you are in there, you can hear everything clearly from nearly everywhere else in the room.

What ringtone interrupted a lovely rendition of "Sweet Little Jesus Boy"? Cantina Band from Star Wars! The only way it could have been worse is if I'd downloaded The Exorcist instead. And trust me, I considered that one, because it's hard to find ring tones that I can hear over typical background noise, but Shorty has that ring tone, and to avoid confusion when she's at home, I needed to find something different, so Cantina Band it was.

I ripped my purse open as soon as I heard it, grabbed the phone and flipped the thing open to quiet it, then closed it immediately, without even finding out who it was. Then I went outside to turn it off, because of course it has this little tune it plays when it's powering down too, and I figured I'd better turn it off before whoever-it-was decided to call me back, then went back inside just in time to hear the last few seconds of that solo.

Just as I was sitting down again, the man who was doing the solo in the next song started doing his solo... Only he wasn't supposed to sing his solo yet! Eventually he realized his mistake, and after a few chuckles from everyone in the place, they started that song over again.

I'm glad it's such a casual church. Just a few minutes before my cell phone went off, a small child started fussing and his brother took him outside to keep from disturbing the cantata further, but it's not the least bit unusual for at least one person each week to have a cell phone or pager ring, or a watch alarm go off, I guess we're just used to occasional interruptions during the service, it's just embarassing when it happens to *you*.

Note to self: Turn off your cell phone before church!

And a Merry Christmas to all!

Thank you so much, Lady Scott.

I was in a church choir this morning too, from 9:45 on. "Some children see him" was on the program in our church too, but it was the children's choir that did it, not the choir I was in. There was also an African carol, that was done by a small group of soloists.

We sang the Kyrie from Charpentier's "Midnight Mass" (based on French carols such as "Joseph est bien marie), "Behold that star," "Ding dong merrily on high," "Glory to God" (by Goss, not Handel), "Carol of the star" (John Rutter), and some traditional carols such as "Lo how a rose ere blooming."

The retired reference librarian that I worked with for so many years sat in the front of the church, and I got a chance to talk to her at the coffee hour afterwards. She had lung cancer a couple years ago, and her family placed her in a hospice. After a year in the hospice, it was very obvious that she was getting better, not worse, so now she's in an assisted-living place that's pretty near the church. She sang alto in the choir for many years, and would still be doing it if she could get up the stairs to the choir loft. I'm going to visit her for a little party on the 23rd, with some other people from our library.

Beautiful accounts both of you!

The Christian rock station I listen to at work, has been playing Christmas Carols all week, including a version of 'God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen' by someone called Bethany Dillon, in a swing, Andrews Sisters 1940s style, and a punk rock version of another standard - I think it is "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". It is a lot of fun!

Another standout one has been Rebecca St James (Australian woman) singing "Sweet Little Jesus Boy". Awesome!


Vicky

Sweet little Jesus boy,
They made you be born in amanger.
Sweet little holy child.
They didn't know who you was.

Should I turn my cell phone off this time?

No, it keeps people from falling asleep.

I was sitting in a pew on Sunday morning also, listening to my brother and sister-in-law performing a cantata with their choir group.

Yes, Paul, that is it!

Have you heard Rebecca St James' version?

It's spine chillingly good.


Vicky

Phones going off aren't so bad...a whole lot worse is the thing ringing and the owner answering it and having a conversation, which happened in the cinema recently. Needless to say someone bigger than him told him to get out if he wanted to chat through the film!

"Yes, Paul, that is it!
Have you heard Rebecca St James' version?"

My choral group sang it last Christmas. Or, ratherm three soloists with very high ranges sang it.

Thanks for sharing!

I rarely have my cell phone on, so when I *do* turn it on, I nearly always forget to turn it off. I run down the battery a lot.

Cells phones are a big problem with clueless library patrons who sit down at a bank of Internet computers and then try to carry on a phone conversation. Meanwhile, four other patrons are trying to concentrate on what they are doing.

What's the big deal with cell phones anyway? Here we have the ACLU working hard to guarantee us all privacy rights, and cell phone users are throwing it away by blabbing on their phones, not caring who else hears their conversations? Plus, calls can be intercepted fairly easily, as Prince Charles found out .