We’re Happy and We’re Feelin’ Good.
The Spring Concert on March 26 was a great time for both the audience and the Chorale. It is always gratifying for the singers when the audience is so visibly enthusiastic about the songs and the singing, and that was definitely the case at this concert.
The program started out with a bang, with a rousing rendition of an oldie called “The Boy From New York City.” The enthusiasm carried throughout the concert with numbers like “Please Mr. Postman’’ sung by the women with Jody Mattson as soloist. This one brought back memories of the young gals in the sixties restlessly waiting to hear from their boyfriends ‘so far away’ during the Viet Nam conflict, when we communicated by letter not by cell phone or texts. Those were the days!
We moved on to show tunes like “Music, Music, Music,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” and “Feeling Good” with Sally Holberg at the mike; and “Orange Colored Sky,” another song about finding love. “The Water is Wide,” a soft number was performed by the men only and was a lovely, harmonious number. The Chorale also performed “What a Wonderful World” with ukulele accompaniment by Linda Dirksmeyer. It was a little, lilting number brightened by the strumming of the ukulele. We also went into gospel—like numbers like “Steady My Trembulin’ Soul” with a solo by Bart Evans; “People Get Ready” instructing the listeners to be prepared to hop on the train to Jordan. Betsy Kosciuba was our soloist in this number. Betsy, Mary Sievert, Bart Evans and Steve Foss teamed up to sing a kind of back home number—“Bring Me a Little Water Sylvy,” the request of a farm worker in the field asking his Sylvy to bring him some water, ‘every little once in a while’.
We moved on to an Irish-Scottish folksy love song—“Wild Mountain Thyme,” a softer number with another new type of accompaniment. This time it was the tin flute, common to old Scottish and Irish songs, but new to many of our members and those in the audience. The flute was masterfully played by Ryan Roubison. One number in Latin and English, “Omnis Terra,” was short but emphatic.
We ended with an energized version of “I Sing Because I’m Happy.” We were allowed to just ‘let it go’ with this number, repeating “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free.” As the audience started to leave, we repeated this number and the audience absolutely loved the energy and enthusiasm and remained standing—and sometimes clapping.
We at the Chorale are more than pleased to have presented such an enjoyable concert. Many from the audience expressed their pleasure and told members how much they loved the music. That was obvious from their reactions to the numbers and it is exactly the reaction we strive for when preparing these numbers. Thank you to all who attended, and we hope to see you at our Holiday Concert on Dec. 10.