On choral meditations

Your faithful correspondent, back in the saddle (#texasreference). Or more properly, the executive desk chair in her room at the very cool Embassy Suites hotel in Dallas - our final lodging for this excursion. We pulled in to town after a ~4 hour drive up from lovely Austin (including a mandatory stop at Buc-Ees, ask your kids, I was there for the summer sausage), arriving at the corner of Elm & Houston Streets. Those names might not mean anything to you, but if I add that Dealey Plaza is across Elm, I think you'll know why we were there. The former Texas School Book Depository building now houses a museum on its (infamous) sixth floor, a museum that delves into the dark history of November 22, 1963, as well as the legacy of President Kennedy. Somber, illuminating, distressing - and once again, our students found ways to incorporate what they were seeing in front of them with the lessons they've learned along the way at AB. Your chaperones are very proud.

I say once again, because of course on this trip we've been to the aforementioned LBJ Library, the Alamo in San Antonio, and the Texas state capitol building, where our tour guide, Sheriff Billy, told rousing tales of battles and generals and founders and flags. The students joined in the conversation with thoughtful questions and lively answers, and we all felt warmly embraced by the sunset red granite of this beautiful building.



Of course, this was the day after our trip to San Antonio, to take in its WPA-created (#historyclassreference) Riverwalk, including a boat tour that was strategically planned to fall at the exact moment of the one torrential rainstorm we have experienced in an otherwise flawless weather cycle. The strategic plan was (a) bonding in dampness (b) tour hero Maury and local sidekick Annie convincing staff at hotel lobby whence tour boats depart to give us 1 million towels, which (b)(i) they will happily provide in exchange for a song, which leads to (c) this charming video definitely featuring at least one towel on one head. Marriott, you GET points from us for this act of kindness! #anothermomentofgratitude #marriottmoment And that's the thing about music, as I'm seeing over & over & over & over this trip - as I do whenever I sneak into that Period 5 class or happen upon a group harmonizing in the East wing stairwell: music makes everything better.

Dear readers - if you're still there - we've reached that point in every blogger's life when she realizes it's really really hard to document things as they're happening, especially when so many of them are so profound and beautiful and really evanescent (#vocabwords). It is now the actual last day (possibly!*) of this amazing trip, and I haven't even had a chance to write anything about the music that has been at the heart of this trip. There's been so much of it, but I want to post this entry while I gather my thoughts about most of it. However, I titled this entry with a quote from our wonderful tour director, Maury, who is also a singer, and I want to elaborate. Before the students began their first concert, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower, on Saturday, Maury asked audience members not to clap in between the songs. All the music sung by the choirs that day was sacred, and Maury's request was in an effort to facilitate a choral meditation for singers and listeners alike. Many of the students told us after they finished that they had in fact found themselves meditating, lifted beyond themselves, and in some cases returning to find tears on their cheeks. They were not alone, and if you watch and listen to this, "The Lord bless and keep you," you can join us.




*Stay tuned!