Canada Choir Tour, Day 6

Today we spent quite a bit of time traveling from Quebec City back to Montreal. We have left the awesome hotel and are now staying at a dorm at the College Jean-de-Brebeuf. What a system shock to go from one to the next!

On our way back to Montreal, we stopped at an elementary school and presented our music to the children in an instructional way. Since this school is primarily a Jewish school, we were asked to teach the children about the ­­­­­­"how" with our music. Tom Granum shared the different melodies, harmonies, and a bunch of other things that my musically declined self did not quite get. The kids loved the presentation and the humor with which we approached some of it.

Today, there will be no pictures accompanying this post since the wireless internet is out at the college and I cannot get my laptop with the pictures connected. I am using a computer in the college's computer lab. The keyboards are similiar enough to make the differences between English and French keyboards noticable. The letters are all in place, but none of the other characters are where they should be! I keep having to hunt for familiar and often used characters on the keyboard!

Tomorrow, we sing at one of the most famous churches in Montreal: Notre Dame Basilique! Off to practice the music!

Canada Choir Tour, Day 5

We sang to people today! We began at St. Roch Cathedral. After an eventful beginning, we sang to several people who were praying in the sanctuary. Following our concert, we headed out to Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, with its beautiful waterfall and over 400 steps up to it. We hiked and ate lunch and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon outside in God's creation!

We went to Notre Dame de la Nativité and sang to the congregation before mass. As Emily was fond of pointing out, "We sounded so good that we made three ladies cry!"

When we arrived back at our hotel, we were greeted by ten BEAUTIFUL cars! There were Lamborghinis, Ferrais, and other very expensive automobiles parked outside. When I asked the bell hop for my keys to the red Lamborghini, he did not seem happy that I asked. Oh, well. We had a relaxing afternoon and evening at our awesome hotel.

For more pictures from our Choir Tour, check out our Facebook page.

Canada Choir Tour, Day 4

In the grand scheme of things, today was the most uneventful day of our trip. We boarded a bus in the morning for Quebec City, about a three hour ride from where we were in Montreal.

About two hours into our trip, we stopped at Cathedral Trois Rivières where we sang before their noon mass. This is a large cathedral that sometimes has visitors during the day to sit and pray in their sanctuary. Today was the day when no one came in, so our audience was only God!

After lunch, we hoped back on the bus and finished our journey to Quebec City. We paused briefly to practice in a church before mass, fine tuning our French skills with some of our hymns we will be leading in worship Sunday morning.

We finally arrived at Fairmont Hotels and Resort. This place is awesome! We are staying in the lap of luxury and loving every second of it!

Our discussions in the evening continued on the liturgical year, focusing on Lent our need to repent and prepare our hearts and minds for the coming Resurrection.

For more pictures from our Choir Tour, check out our Facebook page.

Canada Choir Tour, Day 3

Today, we walked in a great darkness. More on that later, however. Our day began with our own worship service, singing Taizé music, reading Scripture, and listening for God's voice in the silence. We began our singing at a day center for senior adults who are blind. We met many fascinating people and were blessed to share our gift of music with them.

For lunch, we had the unique experience of eating in total darkness, getting the feeling of what it is like to be blind. We ate at Onoir, a restaurant that allows no light -- zero, zilch, nadda -- in the dining room. We were even asked to leave such things as cell phones, watches, and other items that might produce light, no matter how small, in a locker during our meal. Our waiter, who is blind, led us in by having us place our left hand on the left shoulder of the person in front of us and trusting that we will be led to the right place. Cutting my steak was a little tricky, as was finding what else was on my plate. At one point during the meal, I had placed my napkin over shirt so I would not spill anything on my red "Concert Dress" shirt. After having gotten my hands messy in the sauce of my meal, I went to wipe them on my napkin which was supposed to be covering the front of my shirt. Well, it was not. It had fallen, but I did not notice until too late. Yup, you guessed it: sauce down the front of my shirt! And then came the chocolate (and very messy) cake. Let's just say that I wound up wearing a little bit of my dessert on my shirt, too! Being deprived of one of your senses is difficult to adjust to, but it was a great teachable moment for both young people and adults on the trip.

In the afternoon, we went out to Oratoire St. Joseph and preformed in their "small" chapel before mass. The chapel can hold up to a thousand people, but there were much fewer in there, mostly tourists and people preparing for mass. One devout pilgrim came crawling in on her knees praying as she went. As we left, we saw two pilgrims crawling up the 400+ steps on their knees, pausing to pray on each step.

Our discussions in the evening continued on the liturgical year, focusing on Ordinary Time and our own spiritual growth.

For more pictures from our Choir Tour, check out our Facebook page.

Canada Choir Tour, Day 2

We began our day worshipping God in a Taizé style of worship, focusing our hearts and minds as to the true purpose of our trip. After breakfast, we headed over to the Mount Royal United Church of Christ where we helped to lead the musical aspect of worship. Our Celebration Singers sounded like angels! I wish you could have been there to hear it! The soloists sang out strong and the choir blended its notes wonderfully! The congregation was excited we had the opportunity to worship with them this morning. We then had lunch and games with their youth group, getting to know some new friends.

In the afternoon, because of the cold and raining afternoon, we stayed at the hotel, napping and playing in the pool, but not both at the same time. After rehearsal, we headed out to dinner at an Ethopian restaurant where we ate with our hands. (Finally, I can't get in trouble for doing that at the table!) As a sign of friendship, it is customary for someone to feed their friend, still using their hands. This made for an interesting dinner, to be sure! We closed out our dinner with a trip to Ben and Jerry's, sponsored by Bertis Downs.

Our discussions continued in the evening on the liturgical year, focusing on Christmas and what that means to us personally. A great ending to a great day on our Choir Tour!

For more pictures from our Choir Tour, check out our Facebook page.

Canada Choir Tour, Day 1

What a day it has been! We met at the church before the sun came up to begin our journey to Canada. Chris Griffin and Doris Granum graciously agreed to help get us to the airport in the church vans. After boarding the plane (only one bag was checked out of 14 people!), we were off! Several young people had never flown before, sharing their first flight with us!

When we arrived in Canada, we made our way through Customs with no problems. We traveled to the hotel where we are staying (Hotel Maritime in Montreal) for an afternoon of practice and rehearsal, then we hit the pool to relax.

Before dinner, we had our first of several devotions based on the church's lectionary calendar, beginning with Advent. Following dinner, we headed out to Notre Dame Basilique for the show "Et la Lumieré Fut" ("And Then There Was Light"), which details the construction of this amazing church.

2010 Celebration Singers Tour to Canada

A Message from the Director:

Celebration Singers (grades 6-12) will leave Saturday morning for an eight-day tour to Montreal and Quebec City. They will sing for worship services (including an English-language service celebrating the 85th anniversary of the United Church of Canada – and a French-language service with an Evangelical Baptist congregation), for tourists in several major cathedrals, basilicas and churches in Montreal and Quebec City, and for an adult “blind academy.” As if that weren’t enough of a multi-cultural experience, they will also experience the Ethiopian area of Montreal as well the Hassidic Jewish neighborhood.

Each day begins and ends with worship, and they will have other opportunities for spiritual growth. Visiting the historic churches gives them the opportunity to learn more about the Old and New Testament men and women portrayed in statues, stained-glass windows and other art media. Their musical programs will emphasize scripture-based anthems, music of the liturgical year and sharing hymns of our culture with other cultures. Fellowship and developing lasting friendships among the Celebration Singers is also important. Busy days include time for recreation and sight-seeing.

Participants for our 2010 Celebration Singers Tour to Canada include:
Youth – Evan Arrington-Tsao, Emily Cox, Addie Downs, Mary Winn Granum, Daniel Harrison, Grace Magrino, Maddy Magrino, Jordan Osborne, Elizabeth Simmons, Cameron Walters, Hannah Walters and Wesley Walters

Adults & assisting college students – Bertis Downs, Tom Granum, Cheri Griffin, Christiana Griffin, Adrian Martin, Chelsie McIver and Peggy Randolph