"This magic moment"

I had this thought tonight while I was singing in Vespers in Austin at St. Martins, but it wasn't just any old thought. My thought was that my time here at TLU is almost over. I am a senior music education major at Texas Lutheran University. I finally know what I want to do with my life and life seems to be progressing faster than I'm ready for. I realized tonight that I would never have another moment of singing with this choir, the choir that performed at Vespers tonight. What a sad thought...

I'm not crying. My eyes are just sweating.

 

 

I have been blessed with the opportunity to sing with the TLU choirs and my only regret is that I haven't taken enough time to really step back and enjoy those small moments. There were several moments tonight where I really thought to myself, is this it? Will I ever be able to sing in another choir after I graduate? I don't want to stop singing and even though I'm teaching music to many different students, there will never be a feeling such as performing in a choir. Sharing one goal of telling a story through music. That "magic moment" when you get chills down your body or tears in your eyes because you realize that the music you are creating is so amazing and heartrending that only magic can be the cause. It's incredible to believe that a group of 60 people will all be thinking of completely different thoughts while singing but for some reason, if even for a split second...you all become one and the sound is heavenly. Purely heaven.

 

Here's a picture of the choir. It's from my freshman year in college. But some of the most important people I will ever meet are in this picture. It was taken during Vespers in Austin at St. Martins. It's an anniversary in some ways. It's the last time I will ever sing with my graduating class before everyone continues on their journey to the real world. 

 

 

I am feeling a little nostalgic right now as I feel that I am beginning to really comprehend the idea of moving forward. As of lately, I have tried to take one day at a time but still see the bigger picture. It's nice to sometimes stop though. Stop and smell the roses so to speak. Stop and look back at old pictures and remember the wonderful times you've had and all the moments you wish would freeze in time. I feel like music is magically since it touches a deep and secret part of your soul that no one will ever see. Music is the key that unlocks that room where you are afraid to let people into. By allowing music to seep into your soul, you can begin a new, a fresh start, and a new beginning by taking that time to release any bad part of your life in that particular moment.

 

There are so many songs that have affected my life in such a positive way that I would need an entire book to even begin to describe what those songs did for me. But one choral piece that I can think of that touched my heart is a piece called Ave Maria by Kevin Memley and I sang that song my freshman year of college. It's beautiful. That's just it. It's the first song I fell in love with in the TLU choir and it's funny now because this year, my senior year, we were given a CD of the recordings of songs the choir sang 3 years ago. My freshman year. I feel as if I have come full circle and I began my journey of touching music with Ave Maria and now I am listening to the product of that song in a CD capturing what we as a choir felt 3 years ago.

 

So now I'm asking, are there any songs that you just absolutely love? Have they ripped open your heart in a good way? What were they? Do these songs freeze a memory in your mind? I'm really curious and I would love to find out how you all feel about music. :)