On Saturday morning, we were pleased to find that the sun, which on previous mornings had bounded over the horizon to beat us with its merciless rays, was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds. As the morning progressed, rain began to fall. It was refreshing to get all of that Canadian ash out of the air. My brothers also tried to sell me on the notion that it was actually worse for one’s lungs now that the rain had fallen because the ash in the air bonded to the moisture particles in the humid air, causing one to breathe them in. I didn’t buy it.
Aside from these eventful happenings, the choir had a laid-back morning. Call time wasn’t until 2ish, so we slept late and arrived at the venue of the evening’s fundraising concert a bit groggy. We had spent the last two days recording in this building, the Winter Visual and Performing Arts Center, and so it was nice to be able to sing in a familiar space. When we arrived, we began setting up the risers. They looked like some kind of Xtra Xtra Heavy Duty Industrial Grade risers compared to our modest but suitable set. However, despite their elevated quality, we found balls and balls of hair on them as we opened them up. Imagine that—beautiful risers unfolding smoothly with minimal effort from the operator and then rolls and rolls of hair rolling off the risers and onto the stage. It took a while to clean up all that hair. Once we collected it all, we took it out to the parking lot and made a bonfire. Actually, there was a lot of hair on the risers, but we kept it contained to the risers and eventually cleaned it off with brooms and lint roller sheets. After warming up, we rehearsed our different standings, ate supper, and had our prep time before the evening concert.
We anticipated our concert to be quite full, considering that our concert venue for the next day had been switched to a concert hall that held fewer people than the original venue. And we weren’t disappointed. There were quite a few people that came, including some friends of mine and many friends of other choir members as well. Afterwards, a hors d’oeuvre crew headed by the inimitable Dervin Martin himself laid out a sumptuous array of cheese, fruit, crackers, bread, dips, and drinks. There was a lot of food and we got to bag up some of the leftovers to eat on the way home.
Our next morning began at Neffsville Mennonite where we warmed up and had a meaningful Taize-esque worship service led by Joseph and Ivan. We were scheduled to sing for 15 minutes during their service, which we did. Our singing was sandwiched between a block of traditional and contemporary singing (complete with waving banners), and the message (Relaxing Into God’s Hammock: Praying for Power). Unfortunately, we missed the message because we had to leave for our afternoon concert venue. It seems like it would have been an excellent topic for OC right then.
Our venue was a concert hall on the Lebanon Valley College campus. We stepped inside and our lungs were filled with icy air. Actually, while it was chilly in the concert hall, there was no ice, frost, or vaporous breath. In reality, the chilliness was a sign of a healthy AC system.
After some rehearsal, we trundled over to Waterworks Mennonite Fellowship for some pulled pork and fellowship. After returning to our concert venue, we gave our concert, which was emptier than I expected, and basked in the afterglow. It was a fantastic concert with which to end tour. We were locked in, listening and tuning better than we had before on tour. I also think that by this time the music had begun to permeate us in a way that allowed us to sing with more freedom and intention.
By this time, the night was still young, so we headed to Darren Sensenig’s place for our afterparty. It was a doozy. There were coolers and coolers of drinks, a delicious chipotle bar, ice cream, watermelon, sherbet, and whoopie pies. After supper, we had a time of reflection and recognition of Darren’s and Kyler’s transition out of the OC admin team. It was a wonderful time of enjoying the friendships that we’ve formed through our time on Oasis Chorale.
On Monday morning, many of us gathered at the New Holland Coffee Co., ate breakfast, and said goodbye.
It has been such a gift to experience tour again this year. I am so grateful for all of the creative, sensitive, curious people who make OC what it is. I am also grateful for the opportunity to sing for so many of my friends and family this year—it seems like more than usual. All the good food is an added benefit too. Until next year!
Joshua Miller
Bass 2