Tuesday morning provided us with a shockingly late call time–11:00 AM. What a glorious luxury on a choir tour! The reason for this luxury was that our destination, Barnwell Mennonite Church, was only two hours away. Although many of us were tired from the 7:30 concert on Monday evening, many made grateful exclamations about the opportunity to sleep in. When everyone arrived at the bus Tuesday morning, a break in our routine occurred. Our regular morning call times normally caused people to arrive yawning, sleeping, or talking a little less. But Tuesday’s call time was filled with a bit more banter and fewer people with an urge to immediately fall asleep on the bus.
On top of the rejuvenating morning, we only had a one-minute drive to lunch–a small café owned by our artistic director’s family.
Although they were expecting our arrival, Seth still made the announcement that the group would have to eat in shifts because there were not many tables on the inside. But the announcement did not disappoint everyone, as there were some still feeling satisfied after their late breakfast. After the group put away some delicious food from the diner, everyone was corralled back onto the bus for the two-hour bus ride to Barnwell.
The group arrived at Barnwell Mennonite Church having an extra hour and a half before practice began. Some people chose to rememorize music (apparently, it is possible to forget parts of a song even when singing them every day), others figured out the average age of the ensemble (*any guesses?), while one of the ensemble members attempted to produce overtones and “obnoxious” noises with his mouth (the obnoxious noises were called so by said ensemble member himself).
When practice time came, we especially focused on matching vowels within the group while also maintaining the original key throughout a song. Corey Miller led the ensemble in a time of individual prayer before the program, a great way to calm our minds and hearts for the concert. That night, Barnwell Mennonite ended up hosting the largest audience to date. Overall, the concert proceeded without many faux pas except for an unfortunate moment when an ensemble member almost fell off the stage step. She was able to catch herself before the fall but noticed some people in the front row holding back laughter.
After the concert, everyone followed their hosts back to their respective places. Some “hit the hay” early while others saw the midnight hour due to catching up with old friends. While staying in the South, many of us repeatedly commented on the warm Southern hospitality. A few of us also had the opportunity to taste true Southern grits. Delicious! At least some of the Southern stereotypes seem to be true. 🙂
What People Did With Their Late Morning
Rachel: slept in and just putzed around
Corey and Juliana woke up at 7:30 for breakfast (no sleeping in) and did laundry
Trenton: did not get up until really late; “There wasn’t much time to do much.”
Sabrina: went on a run
Julian: sent an invoice
Mariah: slept in, read, took a walk, and sent voice messages
Johnny: walked around a farm and reveled at the ancient equipment
Ruth: enjoyed a good conversation with her host
Dan: slept in, played with his sons, and relaxed
Dave: sat on the rocker on the front porch, read, and took a mile walk
*Answer to the average age of the ensemble: 28.6
– Tiffani Miller