Welcome to the tenor spotlight! Read on to find out what they have to say about Tehillah this year.
What is your favorite song?
Daniel: I like all of them but if I have to pick one, it would be “All Praise to Thee.” Don’t ask me why cause I don’t have a good reason.
Dan: Probably “I Waited Patiently.” As a tenor, I like it partly because the tenors have an expressive part of the piece. As an artistic director, I love the piece because it embodies so much what Tehillah is and is trying to be. It feels like we can sing our goal.
Do you have a hero singer?
Daniel: As far as who influenced me the most, my dad taught my brothers and I a lot about music. I don’t know if I have a hero necessarily.
Dan: When I as much younger I would have really looked up to some of the people I considered to be really good Mennonite singers. Now I don’t really have as much of a hero singer as much as conducting mentors I look up to, such as Wendell Nisly and Lloyd Kauffman.
What do you like the most about singing tenor?
Daniel: I am not sure.
Maria: Maybe you missed your calling in life. Maybe you were supposed to be a bass!
Dan: Don’t tell him that. He was singing baritone, and I convinced him to be a tenor!
Daniel: Yeah, he’s the one who converted me.
What is your favorite phrase in the selection of Tehillah songs?
Tristan: One phrase that sticks out, it’s the phrase in “In Deepest Night.” “When through the waters winds our path, around us pain, around us death…There is the love of God, the love of God.” It really doesn’t matter what stage of life you are in or what is going on, God’s love is always around us.
Jesse: In “My Cry,” the part where we sing, “How can I live, but thou dear Lord guide me? How can I live, but thou Lord sustain me?” We are building up to phrase in the song, and the writer is crying out to God. Every time I sing it, it reminds me of how much we need God.
Parting wisdom?
Jesse: Here is something I like to tell my students: do your best in everything, and don’t try to compare your best to other peoples’ best. By doing your best, you can honor God.
Dan: Here’s one for free; my fav thing about being on tour is not only I get the opportunity to sing with a great group of people, but I get to have my favorite person along with me.
*collective awww…..*
– Maria Byler