It's Wednesday and We Have a LOT to do!

If you are in Hilldale's choir then you know we have a lot to do. If you are one of my thousands (haha) of readers around the world you can read to see how busy we are. This is just a reminder of why it is important to be in choir tonight (and next week, and the next, and the next......)

First of all we are getting ready to sing at the Tennessee Baptist Pastor's Conference in November. November seems like a long way away since October doesn't get here until tomorrow, but November is just a few rehearsals away. We'll be joining up with three other choirs! Grace Baptist in Knoxville, Grace Baptist in Springfield and Lion's Creek Baptist in Strawberry Plains. They say the choir loft holds 240. We will probably end up with more than that. It should sound glorious with that many people singing together!

You'll need to know "For Your Name," "Hear the Call of the Kingdom," and "Our God Saves" by memory! (I'm pretty sure they'll have a way to show us words, but we won't be holding books!)

Then of course "the Tree" is coming up in December. We have only ten rehearsals before the dress rehearsal. YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY! TEN!

Here's the schedule:

Dec. 7 - 6:00 -  orchestra only (but soloists can come sing along)
Dec. 8 - 6:00 -  last rehearsal before the dress rehearsal
Dec. 9 - 6:00 - dress rehearsal
Dec. 10 - 6:30 call, 7:00 performance of "the Tree"
Dec. 11 - 6:30 call, 7:00 performance of "the Tree"
Dec. 12 - 2:30 call, 3:00 performance of "the Tree"

There are nine songs to learn. You can't learn them all in one week, so I'll be looking for you tonight!

However... as I say and have said over and over again.... The most important thing we do is lead in worship Sunday by Sunday. Of course we'll be singing songs for the Pastor's Conference on Sunday mornings in the next few weeks, and we have seen all of them in rehearsal, but for us to be our best we need all of us to be here on Wednesdays and Sunday mornings. Thank you soooo much for how you show up and sing so beautifully week after week! I'll look for you tonight and Sunday!

BIG Rehearsal Night

Tonight's rehearsal begins at 6:00! This is earlier than the usual time. Spread the word.

If you have a student or family member as part of the cast please have them bring their costume tonight. They don't have to wear them for the rehearsal, but they need to be seen in them to make sure everything is ready for dress rehearsal tomorrow.

We are expecting REALLY BIG crowds. We have given away more tickets than we maybe should have. The excitement has caught on and we are getting tons of calls every day asking for more tickets. We're out! (And we printed a few more than we actually have seats for.....)

See you tonight at 6:00.

In the Tree

Saturday we got in "the Tree."

Sunday, Hannah and Papa Lyndel had their picture made in front of "the Tree."

The Tree Goes Up and Greens Up

It's really fun watching the tree go up. It takes a big crew hoisting and bolting and tightening..

Then Ken's LIFE group greens it up.

Ethan was a wild man working on the greenery.

Here's a view from the top.

Rehearsal Calendar

Here's the rehearsal calendar from now until "the tree."

Print one up or copy the link where you can come back and check it often.

Oh, and even more than that... be at all of your rehearsals! Thanks.

See you then.

If you click on it you'll get a larger version.

Christmas Party Pics

We had a fun time together tonight.

The food was great.

The decorations were beautiful.

The fellowship was fabulous.

We had commemorative ornaments for this year's music.

Look for us in the tree!

The Tree Up Close

Here are some "up close" pictures I took earlier today.



The rehearsal before the dress rehearsal and the dress rehearsal are about as up close to the real deal as you can get. And usually they are a little rough - no often they are verrrrry rough. But Wednesday night wasn't too bad and tonight went very, very well. I know it seems a little wild and unorganized when you are looking at it from the Tree, but any time you have 3,264 people involved in one production there are going to be a few people roaming around aimlessly - or so it seems.
I was verrrry pleased with tonight's rehearsal. The choir sang great. The sound was great. (However, we do need to hear all of the trios and solos before 6:00 tomorrow to set some EQs). The acting was wonderful. The non-speaking acting was great. The words on the back screen went well. (and Mark and I fixed the words to African Noel)





What more can I say? Yeah team!





I'll have Star send me some of the pictures she took tonight and I'll get some from Julie and I'll post them in the morning.

And Then There Was Light

Workin' on the Tree

Our designer - Lynn Brake

Things are going up. More will be added. Some will be rearranged, but this is how it looked in the early afternoon. It looks different now, but I didn't get a picture. More to come tomorrow.

Decorating a Tree

We STILL have computer issues at church, so it could be a day or two before e-mail is going again.

Don't forget - like, how could you - that "THE Tree" shows up this week. Many of you signed up to help decorate. We can't send out a schedule or a reminder, so you'll just need to come whenever you think you remember the time or day you might have signed up to possibly help.

We'll be able to give you a schedule of sorts Wednesday night.

Thank you to everyone who helped clear the stage last night. See you Wednesday!

Revised - and final - Orchestra Rehearsal Schedule

I can give you the long story or you can just trust me that many people were being helpful and in the end it made us need to change one of our rehearsal dates - for the second or third or fourth, no just the second time. It was the 11th then the 10th and now we are back to the 11th.

In case you didn't know, here is the traditional seating arrangement for a large orchestra. We, of course, will have to modify this just a little.

Nov. 27, 6:00 - Hilldale players in choir room

Dec. 4, 6:00 - Hilldale players in choir room

Dec. 11, 6:00 - Full orchestra in Sanctuary

Dec. 13, 6:00 - Dress rehearsal with all choirs and orchestra in Sanctuary

Dec. 14, 6:00 call, 7:00 performance

Dec. 15, 6:00 call, 7:00 performance

Dec. 16, 2:00 call, 3:00 performance

Staging Rehearsals - updated

Notice that this was updated on Nov. 20 at 12:10 AM

"Why is that?", you may ask? 1. I changed the time for the crucifixion scene and added a time for the Nativity. 2. The dog woke me up. Wanted out to do his business. I started thinking about how I needed to update this and realized I would think about it for an hour - missing much needed beauty sleep. So typing this now - theoretically - will allow me to not lay here thinking about it, but instead I will drift back into restful slumber. Wow! I hope so... 3. I added the word "costuming" because we will also assign costumes at these times. 4. Anyone want an old Maltese?

I would personally like to stage things earlier, but we have to wait until the tree is up. So... here is a staging rehearsal. If you can't make it to one of your times, please e-mail me and let me know.

Drama - Staging and Costuming Schedule

Dec. 2, 6:30 - Nativity - Mary, Joseph, baby, Shepherds, Wise men
Dec. 5, 8:15-8:45—From the Cradle to the Cross - Jesus, Guards
Dec. 8, 6:00-7:00—Glad Tidings of Joy - ALL parade people
Dec. 8, 6:00-8:30—Adult choir in Tree
Dec. 8, 7:00-8:00—Children and Youth choirs in Sanctuary
Dec. 9, 6:15-8:00—Japanese, African and Latin “storytellers”

Christmas Ad

It's not too early to start advertising "the Tree". This is the ad we will be using around town. Didn't Julie do a great job with it?! I just e-mailed the choir a .pdf copy of it. If you don't get the e-mail, let me know and I'll try sending it to you individually. You can click this picture to get a larger version of it and then right click and save the picture to your computer. Then you can add the ad to e-mails or do other cool stuff with it.

Bonus Rehearsals and Singing Trees

This is now an edited version of this post. My lovely wife mentioned how it took me waaaay to long to get to the summary at the end, so I'm moving the summarey here - to the top. Feel free to read further down the post for more detailed information.

Summary - easier to read.
Nov. 18 - 6:30-8:00
Nov. 28 - 6:15-8:00
Dec. 5 - 6:15-8:00
Dec. 8 - 6:00-? staging night (get in the tree!)
Dec. 12 - 6:00-8:00 on stage and in the tree - all choirs and actors
Dec. 13 - 6:00-8:00 DRESS REHEARSAL
Dec. 14 - 6:00 call, 7:00 performance
Dec. 15 - 6:00 call, 7:00 performance
Dec. 16 - 2:00 call, 3:00 performance
Dec. 17 - take a nap

I thought you might like to see some other trees.

Doesn't "bonus" sound like such a great deal? Extra time with friends singing great Christmas music and it doesn't cost anything more!

The first bonus rehearsal up is this Sunday night at 6:30. If you are attending the Thanksgiving dinner then just head to the choir room after you eat. If you aren't eating here then you can get to the choir room whenever you want to. We'll rehearse until 8:00.

We WILL NOT have child care that night, so a spouse or parent or friend will need to watch your kiddos. or bring them with you. They can sing along.

The next Wednesday rehearsal will be Nov. 28.

We will "stage" the tree - meaning, put you all in the tree, actors on the stage, children and youth in the aisles for "Christmastime" and "He Reigns" on Saturday night, Dec. 8 from 6:00-8:00 pm. We will have child care this night. This is a very important time for you to be here!

Thursday, Dec. 13 is our dress rehearsal at 6:00 pm. The orchestra will be here and we need all choirs and actors and light people and sound people and camera people and anyone else that is involved to be here! There will be child care.

Performances are Dec. 14-15 at 7 with a call time (meaning that's when you need to showup) of 6:00.

The matinee performance on Dec. 16 is at 3 with a call time of 2:00.

It's going to be wonderful! I can hardly wait!

t-shirts

I need t-shirt sizes. We will order the t-shrits THIS WEEK! And it could be that you want more than one shirt since you will need to wear the shirt three or four days in a row! You'll need to let me know.
I also need t-shirt sizes for youth choir and children grades 3-5. We have some sizes from last Sunday and some sizes from the Kid's Choral Connection. Send me and e-mail today!