This is not a personal tradition, but a church tradition. Our services on Easter Sunday always end with the choir singing the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah, with piano and organ accompaniment. Last year I was asked to conduct, which I hesitantly did.
This year I decided to go a bit further and put together an orchestra of people from our congregation. What we got was a little out of the ordinary (yeah, those were saxophones), but we ended up with 23 people (7 strings, 10 winds, 6 brass), from 8th grade to adults, and we really pulled it off. We always invite anyone in the congregation to come up and join the choir for that piece, so there I was, conducting a 23 piece orchestra with piano, organ and about 70 voices. What a rush!!!
Comment by: Stephan
1This is not a personal tradition, but a church tradition. Our services on Easter Sunday always end with the choir singing the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah, with piano and organ accompaniment. Last year I was asked to conduct, which I hesitantly did.
This year I decided to go a bit further and put together an orchestra of people from our congregation. What we got was a little out of the ordinary (yeah, those were saxophones), but we ended up with 23 people (7 strings, 10 winds, 6 brass), from 8th grade to adults, and we really pulled it off. We always invite anyone in the congregation to come up and join the choir for that piece, so there I was, conducting a 23 piece orchestra with piano, organ and about 70 voices. What a rush!!!
Comment by: Helen
2Stephan I love that chorus – that sounds like great fun! I expect those who participated and those who listened enjoyed it very much.