"We are in a position, as musicians, to touch the souls of those who listen."--President Spencer W. Kimball

December is a busy time for everyone, and Nathan’s madrigal group is no exception. In addition to the normal Christmas concert that all school performing arts classes hold, they did performances for elementary schools, hospitals, care centers, sacrament meetings, and even a women and children’s shelter. While it has been somewhat tiring for Nathan (perform several times a day and then try to get homework done without falling asleep) he has really enjoyed it thus far. He likes the elementary school performances the best because the kids are generally so enthusiastic and so glad for the music that is shared.

Nathan also got to sing in the church office building and later this week he will sing in the assembly hall on Temple Square, so he’s been pretty excited for some of the performances.

Today the madrigals sang for our ward’s sacrament meeting. They sang multiple songs and gave a few short talks. The Spirit they brought into the meeting was amazing. I may or may not have been just a little weepy for most of the meeting. I was definitely not gushing tears or anything, but crying is what I do when I feel the Spirit. I’ve had a number of ward members comment about what an amazing job the kids did, but my most cherished comment is from a young mother of three boys (the oldest of whom is eleven). She missed the meeting because of a family event, but the meeting was all her 11-year-old could talk about all day. He told her the Spirit in the meeting was so strong and was just gushing about how wonderful it had been. She was so grateful that he had been given an opportunity to feel the Spirit like that. In my opinion, those are the best kind of compliments, the ones that come because someone’s life was touched and changed just a little bit. Music can invite the Spirit in a way nothing else can. Those madrigal kids are making more of an impact than they may realize.

All told, they will have about thirty performances this month. When I was in madrigals, we had seventy and while it was a lot of fun, by the end of the month we were all mostly dead. Hopefully thirty will leave Nathan with a little energy left over to enjoy Christmas. 😉