So Sunday was my birthday, and yesterday I posted some apparently depressing ruminations on getting older, that I had hoped would maybe be funnier than I guess they were. So I feel like I need to clarify something. It’s true that I am not as thrilled with getting older as I once was, but I had a fantastic birthday and don’t wish to imply that I didn’t have a great day, or that I am deeply pessimistic about the future. In fact, I spent a lot of my birthday doing my favorite thing in the world.
Sunday morning was the well-received debut of what I have decided to call “The Amazing Gracenotes,” an a cappella group for my church. I don’t know if the singers know that they are called this awesome name yet, or even if they will all continue on with me, but in my mind, I have created this group, and we will be performing again in the future.
It all started with a sermon series entitled “What Keeps You Up At Night?” dealing with our worries and fears, and learning to place our trust in a larger plan. The first thing that came to my mind, musically, was the song “Some Nights,” by Fun.. A whole song about being up at night wrestling with life! Perfect! But honestly, it seemed a little to bleak and specific for church. No, I would need to mash it up with something else, to give it a little hope at the end. I chose “Don’t You Worry Child,” by Swedish House Mafia, which I thought gave it the message I wanted.
But if you have heard my choir, you know that these are not the songs for them. I needed a smaller group of people more familiar with a pop style. So I called some people and began arranging. We rehearsed a few times, got a drummer to help out, since none of us are great at vocal percussion, and the whole thing came together nicely.
The arrangement went over very well too. Switching back and forth between “What do I stand for?” and “Don’t you worry child; heaven’s got a plan for you,” completely conveyed the message I was going for, even though the sermon series was moved at a meeting last week that I missed, and the theme of the service was now “Hunger.” Several people came up to me afterward and told me how great the music was, and when would we be singing again, and “Well, it was good, but I’ll have to get used to that sort of thing I guess.”
And so it happened that I spent the morning of my birthday singing a cappella music to an appreciative audience. And I really can’t think of a better way to spend any of my days. So I named the group, and I am already starting to think about our next performance, maybe in a month or two. See, one of the nice things about being older is the experience you have. I can whip up a musical arrangement, throw a group together, and put on a performance like it is nothing. In fact, I can do all sorts of stuff now that I couldn’t ten years ago. So while I wish more of my hair would stay in place, and I wish I was in a somewhat more stable place in my life, I wouldn’t trade my years of experiences and growth for anything. And that’s something that only gets better with age. And for real, I want the senior discounts.