Date Night - Sort Of!

It seems like a loooong time since David and I have gone out. We can't work in dinner tonight because the boys have soccer and swim practice that interferes (The four-legged-boy must sense the excitement in me. As I was typing this, he grabbed a dirty full-fingered bicycling glove from the laundry room. Now, one of the pointer fingers is in some dog's belly!)

We are going to a chorale concert tonight to hear the Concordia College Choir. I don't know where Moorehead, MN is, but the singing must be really good. This acappella choir has an amazing reputation as one of the best in the country. I am sure they are enjoying their visit to TN. It just has to be warmer than way up north in Minnesota.

One of the songs on the program is This Marriage by Eric Whitacre. I have talked about this composer before. He is an amazing composer just in his 30's. We sang this song at our spring concert in 2007. I am excited to sit next to my husband, hold his hand, and listen to the song - taking it all in!

One little guy was peering over my shoulder as I started this. He read the post title and quickly said that we did not need a date night. We are already married! I just laughed and said that even married couples need to go on dates:) I am still in my sweats! I gotta get changed and go pick up the boys...I ran out of time and did not get this blog posted yesterday.

CONCERT REVIEW

The concert was beautiful. This choir is well trained. All of the music was memorized. Even the conductor conducts from memory! There are advantages to rehearsing every day. We found out that Moorehead is way up in northern Minnesota close to Canada. They really must spend many months indoors singing. You can tell!

They sang Choral Concerto, Movement II by Alfred Schnittke. It was sung in Russian and is based on writings by Gregory of Narek (951-1003) and the Book of Lamentations. The song winds its way to the end with Allelulia. You could hear a pin drop. The choir was able to resonate a dissident chord in ppp. Gorgeous! Another piece written by their conductor, Rene Clausen, was i carry your heart with me from an e. e. cummings poem. It made me want to read some e. e. cummings. One part of the concert was dedicated to war and peace. It covered WWII, Vietnam, and Irag ending with peace and hope. They included a visual slide show with the music. It was well done and very well orchestrated. A light-hearted song was Little Potato by Malcolm Daighish. One of Moorehead's agricultural products is potatoes and this song is all about just that - or is it? They are just about at the half-way mark on their tour. It made me think back to the few choir tours I went on (Deb, remember surfing in the bus aisle? I still sing Go Ye Now in Peace and He is Alive!). It was a wonderful cultural experience opening my eyes to the fabulous Concordia College Choir.

We ended the evening with a quick stop into Starbucks. We are coffee novices. It tends to upset my stomach and we have never acquired a taste for coffee. I think our ignorance was obvious from the moment we stepped into the store. We actually had to read the entire menu before deciding. I ordered a skinny cinnamon dulce latte. It was quite good and my stomach approved. We used a gift card that one of our PRE students gave us. It may have been just a bit too much caffeine as I don't feel like I got the best night's rest! The boys were nestled and snug in their beds when we got home. The dog even put himself to sleep in his crate with the crate door open. We just may need to get out more often!

Lastly, I was struggling with what to wear. It was quite cold here and I wanted to make sure I wore a warm cozy sweater as we don't get that many opportunities. I jazzed it up with some necklaces. I dug into my coffers from years ago and came up with this combination. I was chuckling inside as the choker is really a headband. Do I get an award for creativity? I wonder if anyone realized? I was worried about it initially. I quickly came to my senses realizing I won't see many of the audience members again!