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| The
trip to Eugene was our Junior year, when Oregon High Schools from all
over the state participated in a day of performances and
critiquing. Each choir practiced in the morning and
performed individually in the afternoon. That evening they all
came together to form one huge choir. Chester (or Jester, who later
acted in AMEN) Harrison was the guest choir master. During all the practices we had become tired of the songs, but when that man stepped in front of us that evening, he danced, he rolled his eyes and we caught the spirit. During the performance, I can remember thinking I had no idea AT ALL, if I was singing on key or not, but in the joy of that song, I didn't even care. Something wonderful happened during that performance because his joy was infectious. After we sang the final song, he turned to the audience and said, "I have traveled all over the world conducting choirs and I want to tell you people here tonight; THIS was a PERFORMANCE!" |
When we returned to school and back to normal,
there was a day that Mr. Tjernlund left the room. Everyone was talking
quietly and sitting in their seats. A student wandered to the front of
the class, maybe to do something, then, began the lead in lines to the
song and, with complete accord we all responded with "Amen!
Amen" He continued the next line and we continued to respond. Mr. Tjernlund walked back into the room and his face was complete shock. I think he was astounded that we had done this all spontaneously. The whole thing is one of my favorite memories.
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