Jews Singing Gospel for Chanukah

Our Temple has an idiosyncratic, if not unique, tradition of hosting a Gospel choir as part of the celebration after a Friday night service during Chanukah, and having the Temple choir members join in on a few numbers. That was last night.

For a variety of reasons, the Temple choir was under-rehearsed on the music we were scheduled to sing with the Gospel choir: we had gone through everything once, but that was about it. I would normally have memorized the material on my own, but my practice time was being monopolized by preparation for the mostly Renaissance and Baroque holiday concert my other choir is singing next Saturday in North Andover. (If you’re in the Boston area, you should come: see the NECS Web site.)

By the time we had sung our own pieces and sat down, we Temple choir members were discussing our options for the Gospel numbers. A few quietly left for the evening. A few more intended to hide in the back with their music open and lip-synch when they weren’t sure of the piece.

I was tempted by both of these options. On the other hand, I wanted to sing, and participate fully. If I so much as brought my music up with me, I wouldn’t be able to clap, and I’d have difficulty watching the conductor.

I decided to go for broke. The music stayed on my seat, and I took a place in the second row of the tenor section. I had two strong tenors right behind me, a good view of the conductor, and my hands were free.

As it worked out, that was all that mattered. The conductor not only brought us in, he mouthed the words. Singing in the middle of a section that knew what it was doing, it didn’t matter that I’d only sung the pieces once before: that was enough. By watching and listening and remembering, I knew what was coming, and was able to sing, not to mention rock and clap, as though I actually knew what I was doing.

As Nero Wolfe might say, it was “Satisfactory. Most Satisfactory.”