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Endings and Beginnings

12/31/2022

Most people I know try to take a bit of time at the end of each year to take stock of the passing year and make goals for the future. Some years lately have gone along without much of a plan on my part. Instead of sitting in the driver's seat, I have felt like more of a passenger or someone being dragged along! In fact, it has been difficult to keep up!

Peter learning about tornados and lightning -- Peter is a TORNADO!!!

2022 started with a bang! Cami and Morgan and their two adorable toddlers moved in with me. Their plan was to trade turns who would commute for school or work during the last two years of Morgan's college. 2022 was to be Cami's turn to commute to work in Salt Lake City while Morgan attended classes at UVU in Orem. Then they would switch in 2023 by moving back to Salt Lake. But the situation changed. The Day Care plan didn't work out, so they decided to stay on living with me for at least one more semester. (Lucky for me, but hard on Cami.)
Oldest granddaughter Makayla also came to live with us while she goes to BYU, at least until June when she plans on serving a mission. So, 2022 has been quite busy with a growing household.

Looking back, I am amazed that I was even able to accomplish a few goals. I had hoped to be able to do a Summer Theater Camp in 2022, and it happened. Yay! (Getting back to doing Theater after COVID has been a struggle!) This was also the year that five grandchildren turned 8 and got baptized. I promised Ellis that I would attend every grandchild's Baptism. So far this year, I have been to four of those baptisms -- 2 local and 2 on either coast. The fifth one happens next week! Thirdly, I was able to finish another Picture Book to give out as Christmas gifts. This was a story about my mother's mother Lora Harmon Thompson. I asked if any of my cousins would like to have that story book, too. Many of them did, so I had the printer do an extra large print batch. Hope they liked it

Other random accomplishments for this year have been attending the Washington D.C. Temple Open House and Dedication and getting some landscaping done to clean up our back yard and fix the sprinklers. Mitchell graduated from his second Police Academy. I also signed up for some workshops on marketing and networking. Maybe someday I will figure out using technology.

I also got to see some Broadway shows, beautiful scenery, and enjoy visiting family!

Things to look forward to in 2023 -
1. Writing a new Picture Book
2. Rebuilding my websites and boosting the marketing for my Children's Musicals
3. Writing some new choral works.
4. Having a Family Reunion and also welcoming grand baby #26 in June.
5. Doing another Summer Theater Camp (and possibly writing a new show).
6. Moving up from being the Nursery Leader to teaching granddaughter Camilla Joy in Sunbeams.
7. Sending off another missionary grandchild and welcoming one back.

Happy New Year 2023, One and All!

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Christmas Messiah-Sing with SOGO

12/23/2022

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Singing Handel's "Messiah" oratorio is quite the Christmas tradition in our family. We have tried to attend local "Messiah-Sing" concerts together whenever we can. And sometimes we just get together as a family and sing our favorite selections. (Our problem is that we don't like to skip any of the solos or choruses, so we end up doing most every number even though it takes several hours!)

This year, I got to attend a "Messiah-Sing" concert with my grandson Noah Cornwall's SOGO Conservatory orchestra playing for us. We went to the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Olympia for this concert. The Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia (SOGO) advanced group accompanied the concert. My grandson plays the Viola and was pretty much hidden from my view during the concert. But, he was there right behind the conductor!

My brother Ben Lee (Tenor), my daughter Carolyn (Alto), her daughter Heidi (still deciding), and I (Soprano) sat together in the Tenor section. That was rather fun holding our own parts in amongst the Tenor singers. (We wanted to sit together!) It wasn't too hard for me because I basically had those few choruses they did memorized. But poor Heidi, age 13, had barely been exposed to singing "Messiah" before. So she was basically sight-singing or just listening trying to follow along. (No easy feat!) We had a great time singing together six of the most famous choruses and listening to four of the most popular solos. The concert was just one hour long.

The kids in the orchestra did a very good job. I was impressed by how SOGO operates. They practice and learn as a group, of course, but they also have experienced "Artists in Residence" interspersed to help them during rehearsals as well as the performance. (In the picture you can just see a few of the older players.) What a great experience for the students. I was so glad I was able to attend!

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Fun Christmas Concerts

12/17/2022

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We have been needing snow, wanting snow, praying for snow, but now that it is here, we are intimidated by it. The snow we have gotten has been slick and dangerous! The little kids have wanted to build a snowman up to the sky, but the snow just doesn't hold together. And driving in it is quite scary. But, all in all, we are not complaining. We just wish we could stay home in our nice warm house!

But, this has been a week of going to see concerts. So I have trusted in my snow tires and new windshield wipers to take me safely to see my brother, my sister, and my children and grandchildren in their concerts.

Camilla Joy, Peter and I went to watch the Tuba Christmas at the Gateway Mall's Olympic Fountain last Saturday. Their mom Cami and cousin Makayla were playing in it. The concert was fun, but very cold. Peter was done with the concert after about three songs. Then he wanted to get off my lap and go throw snowballs like the other kids. He fought me until he was free enough to reach the little snow patch near us. Yes, he threw snow and ice chunks for the rest of the the concert.

Although I couldn't fit all of the possible concerts into my schedule, I did go to see Elementary School "Christmas Sing" concerts, a High School Band concert, the local Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra concert, and the Tabernacle Choir Concert.

We even had our own family Messiah-Sing at my brother Bob's house. Tomorrow I fly to Seattle area to attend another Messiah-Sing concert where my grandson will be playing in the Community Orchestra.

Hopefully, the snow will not be an issue when I fly back home just before Christmas!

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Janie Shows

12/4/2022

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Janie Thompson, entertainer about 1960

When I was growing up, I was privileged to watch how my aunt Janie Thompson operated. She put together many Christmas shows and concerts. Even her Ward's Christmas parties were something extra special. I was very young when I started to understand that when Janie did a show it was magical! I figured this out when I went to other events that were far inferior. Even as young as I was, I knew something was missing. My mother took 4-year-old me aside and tried to explain that not everyone had the talent to do what Janie did.

So, what made Janie's shows so extraordinary? Well, the first thing was the music. She could take regular people from her ward and train them to do awesome performances. She would size up their natural abilities and then create special arrangements to magnify their gifts. For example, she might give them a song but then change the key to suit their vocal ranges and, of course, dress up the accompaniment so that they would sound awesome.

But her training wouldn't stop there. She worked with them so that they could show personality and sparkle as they performed. She even taught them choreography and helped them with costumes so they looked coordinated and sharp.

Janie's job was to produce shows and touring groups for BYU. Through the 1950s-1970s, Janie Thompson organized shows that performed in places all over the world. Her most famous groups were the Young Ambassadors and the Lamanite Generation (now know as the Living Legends).

I have a memory from when I was still four years old. Janie asked me and two other kids to sing in her Christmas shows. We started working on our training in September. Tanya and Cory were older than me, so Janie figured I would sing the melody and they would sing trio harmony. But really what happened was I learned harmony parts, too.

We would go to her office on BYU campus and stand around her piano. She pulled me up close to the keyboard. It was right at my eye level. She told me to watch her little finger and sing those notes. So I did. One of the first songs we learned was "The Christmas Alphabet." This was a Christmas song made popular by the McGuire Sisters in the 1940s. We sang while the BYU Program Bureau students danced behind us.

From then on, we got to be on many of Janie's shows, mostly the holiday shows when fewer of her BYU students were available. We sang for anybody, anywhere, anytime. I remember singing in fancy private homes, schools, community halls, office buildings, church gymnasiums, theaters, basketball courts, football stadiums, and even the elegant Ballroom at the old Hotel Utah.

Those were magical times. No wonder, I have a hard time watching shows that don't have anything even close to the Janie touch!

"The Christmas Alphabet" is such a fun song. Here are two arrangements, one for 2-Part Children's Chorus and the other for Children and SATB. We sang it on a Family Show in the Festival of Lights at the Temple Visitor's Center in Washington D.C. in 2006.

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Endings and Beginnings

Christmas Messiah-Sing with SOGO

Fun Christmas Concerts

Janie Shows

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