In August Sister Fehr asked me if I thought it would be possible to get a group of women from our ward together to put on the Women at the Well program. Knowing how difficult it is for me to find people to sing in sacrament I was sure that it wasn't possible but I told her I would look into it. I came home and listened and looked through the music. Then I asked around to see who would be willing to participate. I decided I would need 9 soloists. After being told no from the women I had thought would be willing to participate- women I would have never thought of come out of the wood work. To my surprise I was able to find enough willing participants. Most had never sung solos and may or may not have participated in a school choir of some sort.
The women that participated were as follows:
Melissa Park *Women at the Well
Natalee Fehr *Close Enough to Touch
Sheila Porter *Daughter Arise
Sara Butt *If Thou Had Been Here (with me) and *Greater Love
Jocelyn Bangerter *Go in Peace
Shirley Taylor *Foolish or Wise
Casie Pilling *Day of Tears
Becky Stoddard *Miracle From Heaven
Me *He Came for Me
Sister Jane Crawford as our narrator
Jeanette Burke - Pianist/Ipod exptert
For the month of August I put together CD's for everyone with the minus track of their song on it as well as the parts for the group portions of the songs. It was a pain in the butt but very worth it. My piano is half a not flat so I had to transpose everything in my head while playing it. To make matters worse most the songs had at least 5 sharps in them. It was madness I tell you. I'm pretty sure a few of those tracks had Sam crying in the back ground. So I gave them the minus tracks that had the choir added to it along with the minus track with me playing the notes they were supposed to sing and the minus track with my singing what they were supposed to sing.
Starting in September we began practicing Every Sunday for the group portions of the numbers. Every week after church all the women would come to my home. Most needed to bring their children. The children played in the basement while Sister Timothy and Sister Stoker (RS presidency) would babysit. This was a very spiritual experience. It was so enjoyable to get together as a group of women to sing together each week. The biggest thing for me is that I was newly pregnant and had not yet announced it. I was afraid I would be throwing up during practice. To my surprise I only threw up twice during this pregnancy. This was a miracle considering that I didn't even have to take the anti-nausea meds I had had to take during all my other pregnancies. I truly believe that I was being blessed for my time and efforts that I put into this program. Jeanette was playing for us but when we discovered how difficult the music was and that it was different than the minus tracks we had practiced with we decided to just do it with the minus tracks. This is when Jeanette became our ipad button pusher. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Some of the last notes of the songs went on forever so she had to know the right time to stop it so us poor soloists didn't have to just stand there and smile for 30+ seconds after the song ended. Then she had to know when to move on to the next song and at what point during the narration to start the music. I was so thankful for her and her willingness to stick around when we "fired" her form playing the piano.
On Saturday's one or more women would come to my house for a voice lesson. I consistently taught Natalee-Sara-Becky and Shirley. I also helped Jocelyn a few times. Natalee needed the most help but was my very best student. She came back better and better each week and ended up doing a fantastic job (When she could get through the song without crying) :). She put so much thought and emotion into what she was singing and brought such a great spirit to the program. She and I had lots of good moments talking about all the spiritual help we felt our group was having. Sara is a music major but did more with leading and instruments than with singing. While working together I learned that she used to be pretty tone deaf and had taken ear training classes in college. She knew the basics of singing and just needed some help perfecting it. She is wonderful and my go to when I need help with a sacrament number because she plays piano and violin and sings. I love Becky's voice. It is very raspy. In teaching her the biggest challenge was helping her have confidence. I did this by telling her over and over how much I loved her voice and then I recorded it to her and had her listen to it. My very favorite thing at our dress rehearsal was watching Chuck (her husband) watch her sing. Shirley has done a lot of singing in her life and her biggest challenge was that her range was no longer as great as it had once been. Once again I had to work a little bit on confidence because she did a great job on the higher notes when she wasn't thinking about it. Jocelyn actually did better practicing on her own than with me. She is very self motivated and I think my tips were just making it harder on her. Once she was more familiar with the music she just practiced on her own and did great.
Melissa has also done a lot of singing and it was so nice to have someone that I just knew could do it. She would sing whatever part I gave her and I knew she would practice and learn her part.
Sheila also practiced on her own and did a great job. It was so fun to hear her sing for the first time because I didn't know what to expect. Fortunately what we heard was beautiful.
Casie is my friend and neighbor and had a lot going on in her life but was still able to participate. Her song was a bit low for her so we played with it a bit and it ended up being beautiful as well.
I really gained a love for the music-specifically the songs that I sang. Because I was focused on helping the other women learn there parts I didn't practice as much as I should have and I really believe that the Lord helped me learn the music when I was able to find the time to practice it. He Came for Me was a song I had heard before and because I got to assign the music it was the one I chose for me. :) As I sang it I imagined myself singing it to Elese. She would join in with me on the chorus when I practiced and she would just belt it out. When she would sing a long it was so hard to not cry. I loved hearing my sweet 5 year old sing a testimony of Christ.
Once we had learned all the parts for the group portions of the songs we began running through the program. This was a great opportunity for all of us to practice singing in a safe place and to gain an appreciation for each other and the songs we were all singing. It also helped us get all of our tears out before singing it in front of an audience. Not only did we gain a greater love for one another but we gained a greater love for the women the songs were about.
There was talk of doing the program on the stage-maybe with costumes and set or doing it in the chapel. We saw pros and cons to both but in the end decided to do it in the chapel. That for sure was the best decision. In the weeks leading up to it Natalee and I met with the sound guy in our ward and got the sound worked out...sort of...
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When we had our first sound rehearsal we discovered that the microphone was fighting against the minus track. So we decided to use the wireless mics instead of the one at the pulpit. So it worked...or so we thought. We had a dress rehearsal that family could attend and in the middle of it we had to change the set up (during the narration) because we had put the ipod in a different place and that was now causing problems. So we moved it back and everything was fine. I think...its been a while..I don't remember all the details I just remember that it took a little bit of playing around to have it all figured out.
The night of the performance we got together to warm up and have a prayer while all the other RS sister's ate their dinner. Before we began Sister Fehr spoke and thanked me for all of my hard work. They gave me a very thoughtful card that everyone in our group had signed a WillowTree figure. Everyone came in and enjoyed the program...but I'm sure they didn't enjoy it as much as we enjoyed putting it on. I even had Sister Peacock tell me that she regretted telling me no when I had asked her in August if she would sing a solo. After we sang we ate our dinner while everyone else had their dessert.
Jocelyn's husband works at the prison and together they arranged for us to put the program on at the women's prison. We did this in January. This was set up like a fireside. All of us were a little unsure of what to expect. Other than the fact that they were all in prison attire it was no different than singing to any other RS group. The spirit was very strong. Afterward we had some time left over so we left it open to the sister's to stand and tell us their favorite hymn and we would all sing it together. Oh it was also on Casie's birthday and before the program she walked around and spoke to some of the women. One of them asked me if we could sing happy birthday to Casie so we surprised her by singing to her before the meeting started.
This was such a wonderful opportunity for me and all that were involved. It is still mentioned occasionally in RS because it was so memorable for all of us. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I had to be a part of this and grow to love all these women so much more!
Wishing I had a photo of all of us...maybe we need to have a reunion and come sing together again and take a picture...
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