A Soprano's Scratchpad

Monday, December 21, 2009

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!

Tonight, I took my students caroling at the hospital. Even more than usual, I could see how much our music meant to the patients and their families. One woman sang along with us as she waited for her husband to be returned to his room. A young woman holding her sick two-year-old daughter wiped back tears as we sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to cheer her up. Another was crying even as she invited us into the dark room to sing for her husband, and as we sang, she gave me a big, long bear hug and cried on my shoulder. It was all I could do not to cry myself. It is humbling to see how such a simple gift can mean so much and how just a few ordinary people can have such a positive impact on so many others in just 90 minutes of walking the halls of a hospital at Christmastime.

Tomorrow night, same gig, different singers. Really looking forward to it.