What a wonderful way to wake up! I woke up to the smell of the fresh french bread that my host parent was heating for us this morning. For those of you that have not tasted “Nutella” with bread, I strongly encourage you to do it–it is an experience you won’t regret. After our incredible French style breakfast, which goes perfectly with our song Cantique de Jean Raccine,we met with the other choir ensemble members at 7:45am at the Hyattsville Mennonite church. (Russell was lying when he said that we were late because of me, actually there was a traffic jam and that took us a while to get to the church, it was not me…) Our destination was the Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland. I have to say it was one of our most uplifting performances ever. The high schoolers were very receptive considering the fact that it was their early chapel service. However, we had a lot of fun performing for them.
In addition, we experienced an incredible memory that will definitely stay with us forever. We had a workshop with one of the greatest musicians in the men’s choral field, Frank Albinder. He has worked with many professional and student ensembles, including particiption in the famous Men’s a cappella ensemble Chanticleer. He gave us some advice and made fun of the expressiveness of one of our choir members, who apparently looks like he had just woken up (and that will definitely stay in our memories forever!!). After that, we loaded the bus and headed to our second performance of the day, Salford Mennonite Church. This performance was special out of the performances we had because it was our first full repertoire performance on tour. So, after a really good supper that will be perpetuated in our palates forever, we sang with much joy and excitement. And so the moment came to meet our host parents. I have to say that my hosts rock! As of right now, I’m in a huge house with great people to share with, and of course I have my own brother Allen Shenk to share a room with.
Keep tuning in for more updates, but that is it for today. Thankfully my cummerbund is in place and so is my voice!!
Praise the lord,
Sammy