Choir Retreat

Yesterday was a great day of FINALLY finishing up the Easter drama script, making copies for all who need it.  The only thing I have to do to the script is decide my underscores and insert those cues for the Sound Team.  But this is a good working version for everyone else.  We've learned to color-code the script.  This run was on yellow paper.  That way if there are any any changes to the script and we make new copies, we can remind people to "make sure you're using the whatever (yellow, pink, blue, etc.) color script."  I learned this trick from our Student Ministry's big ministry The Choice.

Today was our drama choir retreat.  Had a great group there today, and they sound great.  I generally have about a 60 - 70% attendance year after year.  Our "retreat" isn't one like you would imagine, where we go somewhere and spend the night.  We meet at 9:30 and generally go until about 1:30ish.  Sometimes we meet somewhere on the church campus, and sometimes we'll find a place off-campus to meet. Everyone brings snacks;  some bring breakfast-type snacks, some bring mid-day type snacks or desserts.  It's a very casual rehearsal time...I encourage people to get up any time they want to and get food or something to drink.  I buy a lot of fun "door prize" gifts, some gag gifts and some real, and we do drawings throughout the day.  We'll have a couple of devotions.  Generally I provide a lunch (today we didn't do that, though).  And we REHEARSE.  Usually by the end of this retreat, we are all so much more familiar with the music.  In fact, from this time on we'll mainly be working on memorizing.

This morning we had our big 10 foot grand piano moved out of the sanctuary in preparation for set construction.  We used to disassemble it and move it ourselves, but I was always a nervous wreck.  We didn't really have the proper equipment or knowlege to move it safely (for us AND for the piano).  We would have up to twelve men at a time trying to get this done.  I found a piano moving "company"...a man and his helpers...that move pianos for a piano store in Baton Rouge, and hired them.  There are three or four of them, they come in and that piano is moved in 15 minutes!  It is SO worth the money we spend on it.  I've used them for the last six years.

While our grand is stored away and the set is up, our pianists use digital pianos / keyboards.

Tomorrow after church we begin set construction!