Concert Schedule for Tour 2010, updated 6/2/2010

Concerts are still coming together for VIP's 2010 Choir Tour, but here's the latest info about where we'll be singing.
Concerts marked with a * are ones that friends, families, and the general public are welcome to attend - we'd love to see you!  All other concerts are outreach concerts for special, private audiences. Thank you for understanding as we reach out to others with music and God's message!

Sunday, June 27
- Worship services at 8:30am*, 9:45am*, 11:11am* - Grace United Methodist Church, 3012 South Twyckenham Drive South Bend, IN 46614
- 5pm - Hope Ministries Family Life Center, South Bend, IN

Monday, June 28
- Worship service at 11:30am* - Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame University
- 6pm - Camp Summit Juvenile Boot Camp, LaPorte, IN

Tuesday, June 29
- Morning work projects and 11am concert - Marcy-Newberry Association, Chicago, IL
- Serving dinner and evening concert - Dignity Diner, part of Holy Covenant UMC, Chicago, IL

Wednesday, June 30
- 12pm* - Worship at First United Methodist church at the Chicago Temple
- 3pm - Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, Chicgao, IL
- 6pm*, Hancock Observatory

Thursday, July 1
- No concerts. Day of vocal rest.

Friday, July 2
- 2pm - Bethesda Home and Retirement Center, 2833 North Nordica Avenue, Chicago, IL 60634-4794
- 6:30pm* - Lincoln Park Community Shelter at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, 600 W. Fullerton Parkway, Chicago, Illinois

Concert Schedule for Tour 2010, updated 6/2/2010

Concerts are still coming together for VIP's 2010 Choir Tour, but here's the latest info about where we'll be singing.
Concerts marked with a * are ones that friends, families, and the general public are welcome to attend - we'd love to see you!  All other concerts are outreach concerts for special, private audiences. Thank you for understanding as we reach out to others with music and God's message!

Sunday, June 27
- Worship services at 8:30am*, 9:45am*, 11:11am* - Grace United Methodist Church, 3012 South Twyckenham Drive South Bend, IN 46614
- 5pm - Hope Ministries Family Life Center, South Bend, IN

Monday, June 28
- Worship service at 11:30am* - Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame University
- 6pm - Camp Summit Juvenile Boot Camp, LaPorte, IN

Tuesday, June 29
- Morning work projects and 11am concert - Marcy-Newberry Association, Chicago, IL
- Serving dinner and evening concert - Dignity Diner, part of Holy Covenant UMC, Chicago, IL

Wednesday, June 30
- 12pm* - Worship at First United Methodist church at the Chicago Temple
- 3pm - Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, Chicgao, IL
- 6pm*, Hancock Observatory

Thursday, July 1
- No concerts. Day of vocal rest.

Friday, July 2
- 2pm - Bethesda Home and Retirement Center, 2833 North Nordica Avenue, Chicago, IL 60634-4794
- 6:30pm* - Lincoln Park Community Shelter at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, 600 W. Fullerton Parkway, Chicago, Illinois

Shared Soundtracks

So, in an earlier post, I talked about the soundtrack of our lives…and it's interesting to think about how they're formed.

At that lock-in rehearsal that VIP had, Sandy Griese scooped up “The Prayer of Saint Francis” and said to me, "Do you remember learning this piece?" Sure. I was at Music and Arts Camp at Lebanon Valley College (on a scholarship provided by the amazing and generous folks at Mt. Harmony UMC). I was 14 or 15 years old, and I remember learning it and thinking, "This entrance is so high that I will never get it right."

I said this to Sandy and she replied. "No, you didn't. That's not when you learned this song." Um... say what?

As she usually is, Sandy was right. She first taught me the piece nearly 2 decades ago when I sang in her Sanctuary Choir at Smithville United Methodist Church. Surrounded by wonderful, warm, kind singers who were old enough to be my parents and grandparents, I learned a lot of music from a director who cut me no slack - and exposed me to some incredible pieces.

As Sandy dusted the cobwebs from my memory, it suddenly came back to me and I realized why I had forgotten that high entrance. I didn’t sing it. In Sandy's choir, I was an alto. At summer camp, I was signed up as a soprano. Same song, different part.

In Sandy's choir, the opening pages of the piece were sung by a wonderful soprano soloist, who happened to be (very) pregnant at that time of the performance.

Ready for the cool part? Ready to see just how God moves in our lives, using music to bring people together?

That soprano soloist was Martha Umhau -- and the baby who witnessed the piece from the womb is Blaire, a member of VIP’s graduating class of 2009 and sister to Bennett (VIP '07) and Mary Brooke (VIP '12).

There was a special joy in listening to Sandy tell this story, realizing that this piece of music is part of her soundtrack, part of mine, part of Martha's, (in a different way - part of Blaire's), and now it will be part of Mary Brooke's. I am thankful for the ways God connects us and uses music for his perfect purposes. What a privilege it is to be part of his plan, and carry this music and its message forward.

So, what soundtracks do you share with others? And how were they formed?

Shared Soundtracks

So, in an earlier post, I talked about the soundtrack of our lives…and it's interesting to think about how they're formed.

At that lock-in rehearsal that VIP had, Sandy Griese scooped up “The Prayer of Saint Francis” and said to me, "Do you remember learning this piece?" Sure. I was at Music and Arts Camp at Lebanon Valley College (on a scholarship provided by the amazing and generous folks at Mt. Harmony UMC). I was 14 or 15 years old, and I remember learning it and thinking, "This entrance is so high that I will never get it right."

I said this to Sandy and she replied. "No, you didn't. That's not when you learned this song." Um... say what?

As she usually is, Sandy was right. She first taught me the piece nearly 2 decades ago when I sang in her Sanctuary Choir at Smithville United Methodist Church. Surrounded by wonderful, warm, kind singers who were old enough to be my parents and grandparents, I learned a lot of music from a director who cut me no slack - and exposed me to some incredible pieces.

As Sandy dusted the cobwebs from my memory, it suddenly came back to me and I realized why I had forgotten that high entrance. I didn’t sing it. In Sandy's choir, I was an alto. At summer camp, I was signed up as a soprano. Same song, different part.

In Sandy's choir, the opening pages of the piece were sung by a wonderful soprano soloist, who happened to be (very) pregnant at that time of the performance.

Ready for the cool part? Ready to see just how God moves in our lives, using music to bring people together?

That soprano soloist was Martha Umhau -- and the baby who witnessed the piece from the womb is Blaire, a member of VIP’s graduating class of 2009 and sister to Bennett (VIP '07) and Mary Brooke (VIP '12).

There was a special joy in listening to Sandy tell this story, realizing that this piece of music is part of her soundtrack, part of mine, part of Martha's, (in a different way - part of Blaire's), and now it will be part of Mary Brooke's. I am thankful for the ways God connects us and uses music for his perfect purposes. What a privilege it is to be part of his plan, and carry this music and its message forward.

So, what soundtracks do you share with others? And how were they formed?

Easter Music - Enjoy!

Easter Music - Enjoy!

The Soundtrack of Your Life

Someone once told me that just like a movie, each of our lives has a "soundtrack." It's the music that goes with the stories of our lives. For people who sing in a choir, the music that they sing becomes part of the soundtrack, too.

Last Friday, VIP had a "lock-in" that kicked off with rehearsal. (A lock-in is a church name for "slumber party.") Since our regular accompanist, Brie, was out of town, our church organist, Sandy Griese, came to fill in. She spied a piece of music and said, "Oh, I love that piece." So do I. Written by Alan Pote, it is a musical setting of the "Prayer of Saint Francis:"

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, Thy pardon, Lord.
Where there is doubt, let there be faith.


Oh, Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there's despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let there be light,
Where there is sadness, let there be joy.


{I'll save the rest of the text and the background story for another post!}

When Brie and I were choosing music for the choir year, it was the text of this piece that pulled at our hearts... and we talked about the fact that this (this!) is what VIP tries to do through its music ministry and especially when we're on tour. When we travel, we go into some places that can seem... a little bleak... a little sad.... a little broken. It's our job to change that. To be messengers of hope, beacons of light, and sources of joy-- to help people through the process of exchanging doubt for faith.

What's always ironic to me is that if you look closely at places that seem bleak, you'll always find little slivers of hope, joy, light and love. I remember once we were singing at a Nursing Center, and after our concert, some of the staff asked if we could come to the secure ward, where we would find patients with severe dementia and Alzheimer's. For their safety, the patients couldn't leave the secure area, which happened to be in a basement.

We did a few of our regular pieces and then started to sing hymns. And you could feel something shift in the room. The patients sat up a little straighter and all of a sudden, they were singing along. In the Garden, Amazing Grace, Old Rugged Cross. These individuals, who suffered from some of the most severe forms of memory loss, knew every word and sang with gusto. Family members who were visiting the patients  stood with tears in their eyes as they watched their loved ones momentarily resurface from the darkness of illness. There was great, unbelievable hold-your-breath joy.

That's the soundtrack -- buried deep within us, so that even when we've forgotten nearly everything else, we still know how the music goes.



.

The Soundtrack of Your Life

Someone once told me that just like a movie, each of our lives has a "soundtrack." It's the music that goes with the stories of our lives. For people who sing in a choir, the music that they sing becomes part of the soundtrack, too.

Last Friday, VIP had a "lock-in" that kicked off with rehearsal. (A lock-in is a church name for "slumber party.") Since our regular accompanist, Brie, was out of town, our church organist, Sandy Griese, came to fill in. She spied a piece of music and said, "Oh, I love that piece." So do I. Written by Alan Pote, it is a musical setting of the "Prayer of Saint Francis:"

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, Thy pardon, Lord.
Where there is doubt, let there be faith.


Oh, Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there's despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let there be light,
Where there is sadness, let there be joy.


{I'll save the rest of the text and the background story for another post!}

When Brie and I were choosing music for the choir year, it was the text of this piece that pulled at our hearts... and we talked about the fact that this (this!) is what VIP tries to do through its music ministry and especially when we're on tour. When we travel, we go into some places that can seem... a little bleak... a little sad.... a little broken. It's our job to change that. To be messengers of hope, beacons of light, and sources of joy-- to help people through the process of exchanging doubt for faith.

What's always ironic to me is that if you look closely at places that seem bleak, you'll always find little slivers of hope, joy, light and love. I remember once we were singing at a Nursing Center, and after our concert, some of the staff asked if we could come to the secure ward, where we would find patients with severe dementia and Alzheimer's. For their safety, the patients couldn't leave the secure area, which happened to be in a basement.

We did a few of our regular pieces and then started to sing hymns. And you could feel something shift in the room. The patients sat up a little straighter and all of a sudden, they were singing along. In the Garden, Amazing Grace, Old Rugged Cross. These individuals, who suffered from some of the most severe forms of memory loss, knew every word and sang with gusto. Family members who were visiting the patients  stood with tears in their eyes as they watched their loved ones momentarily resurface from the darkness of illness. There was great, unbelievable hold-your-breath joy.

That's the soundtrack -- buried deep within us, so that even when we've forgotten nearly everything else, we still know how the music goes.



.