Normally, the words I associate with our church choir director run to things like knowledgeable, humorous, big-voiced, committed, and playful. But at the Sunday morning choir practice when we began working on an arrangement of “Silent Night” for our Christmas music, Taylor asked us to think a different way with a statement that led me to add the word profound. “Music is the picture you paint with your ears.”
I began to think not only of the application he wanted but of other music that produced entirely different pictures. I thought of the old song, “Goober Peas” that I learned as a child for fun that now brings a totally different vision. I hear it now and see Rebel soldiers at the last of the Civil War down to eating peanuts or “goober peas” for rations.
I remembered the picture Pat Boone conjured up with his rendition of “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” with lyrics that say the trees blossom when you are in love. Perhaps I liked it because I fell in love about the time it came out. Yes, it was Al and yes, the blossoms still fall, though on one balder and one grayer head.
Of course, I also pictured the music Taylor wanted us to see as we sang the arrangement of “Silent Night.” There were shepherds in a field, angels singing a lively chorus, and a baby in a stable manger watched over by two caring parents.
Should you happen to be in Hattiesburg this Sunday morning at eleven o’clock, you are invited to drop in at University Baptist Church where all are welcome as the choir sings its Christmas gift to those present. You may want to see if they have painted the picture of Christmas for your ears.