My Crowd: All-State 2012

So last Wednesday-Friday I was blessed enough to be able to participate in the 2012 NMEA All-State chorus. Our director was Craig Arnold. Our songs were awesome. The guys I sat by were amazing, and we became pretty good friends in those three days, but the one thing that I absolutely loved about the whole experience was being surrounded by people with amazing voices who shared the same utter passion for music that I have. They could sing on key. They knew how to correctly use vibrato. They got music puns. They wore Converse All-stars and Chuck Taylor's. It was heaven.
Throughout the rehearsals we worked on perfecting the already polished sound we could produce. (440 high school choir members can put out some decibels.) After the fine-tuning though came the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. I had chills all week, but during the dress rehearsal I was really enjoying it. One of the songs, Fare Ye Well Love, had a great peak in the center where the sopranos were belting out notes from the stratosphere and the bass/baritones were in an eighth note run, and the altos and tenors were just chilling in the middle. When the chord finally lined up I wanted to cry. It was astounding.
Once everyone got into their school choir robes we looked like a kaleidoscope. I wanted everyone to walk around the UNL campus with directors batons so that it could be a sort of musical Hogwarts. We all got in on the stage and, after at least seven painful minutes of announcements, we started. At several times I think I could only see Dr. Arnold's hands bobing and swaying in motion. I got so lost in the music that I lost the sense of sight temporarily. (That might of had something to do with the fact that I was beginning to have a severe head cold.) I almost cried my way through the concert. It was that inspiring.
I made several friends there, and I was honored to have gone with some of my friends from my home high school. Memories were made that will not soon be forgotten. I end with a quote from a song performed by the OHS concert choir final concert of the 2011-2012 school year. The Awakening by Joseph Martin.


"I dreamed a dream,
a silent dream of a land not far away
where no bird sang,
no steeples rang,
and teardrops fell like rain.
I dreamed a dream; a silent dream.
I dreamed a dream of a land so filled with pride
that every song,
both weak and strong,
withered and died.
No hallelujah;
not one hosanna!
No song of love,
no lullaby.
And no choir sang to change the world.
No pipers played, no dancers twirled.
I dreamed a dream;
a silent dream.
Awake, awake!
Soli deo gloria!
Awake, Awake!
Awake my soul and sing,
the time for praise has come.
The silence of the night has passed,
a new day has begun!
Let music never die in me;
forever let my spirit sing!
Wherever emptiness is found
let there be joy and glorious sound.
Let music never die in me;
forever let my spirit sing!
Let all our voices join as one
to praise the giver of the song!
Awake, awake!
Let music live!
Let music live!"