Several years ago, my brother Corey
presented a patriotic program to the Relief Society of the ward we
attended. Great program. One that I had tried to recreate – though it
didn’t go as I had planned.
I have the original tape that Corey had
made – somewhere. I couldn’t find it and
so had to recreate one. He said he
hadn’t saved the program and so I had to recreate that as well. Rely upon my own research instead of
his. Though I believe I had it easier. Today we have access to several sources on
the Internet. Corey used the card
catalog and spent HOURS putting the program together.
I recorded music, though I didn’t like
the quality (or lack thereof) of the recording as the volume changed with each
song. I had asked Corey if he and Joh
could/would record songs for me (I still have never heard the two of them singing
together) and so he created a YouTube video with most of the songs I’d be
using.
My plan was to give a brief description
of the song and have the sisters guess what song I was describing, and then I
would play a piece of the song. I had handouts
with lyrics to pass out at the end of my program
I rehearsed with the tape. I rehearsed with Corey’s video. I was happy to go either way and couldn’t
quite decide which way to go. But then a blunder that took place last week
helped me decide.
Jenna and I were in the Church parking
lot. She had wanted to shoot baskets,
and I had brought my script and tape player to practice the performance. When Jenna walked toward me, she started
singing along with a song, she seemed stumped as a verse she wasn’t familiar
with started to play. I decided to
rewind the tape for her so that she could hear from the beginning – and then
the tape garbled. Quite badly.
I could have just found another tape
and rerecord everything. But I had my back
up. Or so I thought. I figured even with Roland’s
“slower-than-molasses-in-sub 0-weather” laptop, I would have Corey’s recording
and instrumentals ready to click on when it was time. It didn’t even occur to me that the Church
has blocked the use of YouTube from their wi-fi. It makes sense when I think about it. Problem is, I didn’t think about it.
No tape. No wi-fied YouTube. Now what?
Pass out the handouts BEFORE the program and ask for audience
participation (which was a success by the way) and play it by ear.
It actually turned out quite well. It was a good turnout and the sisters really
seemed to enjoy themselves. They wanted
to sing. And they kept singing. I think they enjoyed singing more than if I
had just played.
I’m grateful that they were grateful
for the time I had put in and that each enjoyed herself. I thank Corey for the time he took also. The sisters were impressed that he had taken
that time for me.
