Success is all in how you look at it.

I'm sitting in my living room at 1:00 a.m. My oldest son is at an after prom party. Even with all of the craziness of our ND spring, parties and special events still take place. We had our State 'A' Vocal Festival yesterday. I brought 29 students to Minot for the day. They really grew between regional and state. 28 of the students will receive a medallion at our music appreciation banquet in May. We'll give out 52 of them. Wow! I am so happy for them. They know they did a great job and that means more than what anyone else could say. It was good to see that Valley City was able to pull it together enough for the students to participate. I think we all view success differently. Some use the stars as the end goal, some say state is the reward for success. I really always just want forward progress in the 'right' direction. It's all in how you look at it. Sometimes success is observing a student celebration in the form of spontaneous song on a school bus. Truly the Cathedral Choir experienced their own form of success when the sang for the Triduum. They were wonderful.

Who decides when you have success? We went to the gala event for Sister Thomas Welder last night. Now there is a success story. She is a beautiful woman with a heart of gold. Sister has touched so many lives. How can a woman be so strong, yet serve so many? 1400 people turned up to honor this humble leader. Thanks God, for the opportunity to have been within the reach of a true servant leader.

I have 9 big events left before relaxing into summer. Grandparents Mass, Art & Song, Cinco de Mayo w/ Voices+, Blues performance at Saint Anne, Music Appreciation Banquet, 2 graduations with choirs, Pentecost and Solemnity of the Body & Blood of Christ, and diocesan ordination of three young Catholic men. In the back of my mind I am preparing for teaching at IMC, getting the 80th Messiah performance ready, and planning the activities involved in touring to NYC with the HS Choir. I'm sure I've left things out, but they say the brain can only handle 7 things at a time. Oh, I remember another one, recording soloists for the NCACDA. Success to me? Finding JOY in each day. That's true success. Joy is found in friends and family, in making progress - not perfection, and enjoying God's gift of beauty. This picture is of the volcanos surrounding Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Truly a place where you can see beauty and believe it or not... JOY.

Vigil is in View

Easter Vigil is around the corner - at the end of the week. What a journey we've taken. I think what I learned most this lent was to breathe. There's a time and a place for anxiety. Only when it will move things in the right direction should it be given life. In the last 4 days, the music in my life has been more than satisfying. The Cathedral Church Choir sang very well last night. They have so much potential and will be so amazing in a year, it will be hard to recognize them. I hope it continues to grow and that those involved are spiritually moved to a place that is truly bringing them closer to God. The choir will be singing for the Triduum.

We had a concert today at SMCHS. It's our annual "Text & Tone". Speeches by the speech club (3) and music by the vocal jazz choir. It's a really nice afternoon, and the performance was quality! But, we can't seem to get the audience there. I wish I knew how to change that. I think it's just the time of year. PR was done appropriately. Tomorrow, the SM Blues get to sing for Holy Hoops. It's in front of the entire school and we'll sing the National Anthem. Not a lot of pressure, but a big gig. So, little time to rest up, but that's life during the school year. I'm going to watch the news. The camera man was there today and took a bit of footage with an interview. Thanks Tom S. for taking such nice video of our St. Mary's Men when they were singing "Johnny Schmoker" on Thursday. Thanks also to: Aanders, Glenn, Don, Pat, Tami, Jim, Leann, Michelle, and all the others that helped with the concert yesterday and today!

I received a site suggestion from a colleague at school, so to see what you can create with Wordle, you can go to http://www.wordle.net/ . Today was a great day for our Singing Saints. The students really had to do a lot on their own for our West Region Vocal Contest preparation after I started them on the task due to our crazy March (musical march madness) and our unusual weather circumstances. After a short pep talk and prayer they were off to many adjudicators and performances. What we came away with was nice. Our choir starred in 18 events bringing home 62 stars and better yet, 31 of the 35 participants qualified to advance to the State Class A Vocal Contest to be held in Minot on April 24th. Way to go Saints!! I get to break the news to them tomorrow. There is abundant joy in knowing they worked hard and will be rewarded. Sunday we have a concert. The vocal jazz choir shares and afternoon with the speech club. Text & Tone... It's a nice afternoon, seated around tables, great friends, conversation, entertainment, and even original music by our students. Well, that's all for now. Later.