My Apologies, Professor

If I could ever find him again, there's a professor in the music department at Georgia State that I probably should grudgingly apologize to.

You see, one of the course requirements for graduation was a choice of either Art Appreciation or Music Appreciation. I was warned that taking the music course would require listening to "Flight of the Bumble Bee" for hours on end, but I couldn't schedule the Art course, so I sat through symphonies, operas and musicals. Being a teenager, I had no taste for anything other than the rock and roll of my era (although I did like many of the musicals). Therefore, my written reviews (part of the course assignment) were quite negative to the performances due to my biases.

Fast forward to today.

The Chancel Choir performed Mozart's "Requiem" at the 11:15 service Sunday with a 70 voice choir and 25-member orchestra and I was there on the back row of the tenor section enjoying myself immensely. I'll admit that it took a good deal of work and effort to get to that point and there were time when my voice was tired, my feet hurt and I couldn't figure out the notes. But with 12 weeks of rehearsal – including a retreat in Dahlonega -- it was both fun and fulfilling to sing the piece straight through.

What makes the difference? I would probably still squirm in my seat to listen to an hour long piece, but my taste has expanded. The other reason is that I am invested in the music. I hear it from a different perspective and I know the background of the music and the composer. (Mozart was a piece of work wasn't he?)

What's next? The Easter service is a marathon of three services but the music is familiar. Our choir director is already planning the Christmas music for later in the year and thinking ahead to Easter 2010.

I'm looking forward to it.