A concert by youth choirs is balm in our cacophonous times
Youth choirs show there is great power and satisfaction in working toward a common cause. Credit: Getty Images/Stockbyte
I went to a concert last Sunday night.
It was almost election eve, the peak of the great roil that consumes our country every four years — a roiling that only marginally subsides in between, if at all, if we’re being honest.
Nerves were taut and tensions high. It seemed as if our nation was united on that night in only one respect — its conviction that half its people would be ecstatic and relieved and the other half angry and depressed when all the counting was over.
The concert featured three youth choirs composed of elementary, junior high and high school students from around Suffolk County. My daughter, a pianist and music teacher, was accompanying one choir. My grandson was singing in another.
I studied the faces of the singers as each of the three choirs took the stage in turn and was struck by the cross-section they seemed to embody. It was admittedly the most unscientific and superficial of studies, but there on the risers were children who seemed to represent all sorts of ethnicities and skin tones. I didn’t know any of them personally, but the visual sweep of the singers was impressive and moving.
Then they started singing.
Each of the three groups was a revelation, as they always are. Their timing was crisp and their harmonies impeccable, all those different voices from all those different kids with all their different backgrounds and life experiences blending beautifully and filling the concert hall with lushness and peace. I don’t know whether the conductors consciously chose the pieces being performed with our electoral showdown in mind, but the smoothness and softness each song exuded was a balm for the cacophonous soundtrack of our lives.
These choirs comprised of our children and grandchildren reaffirmed something we all know: There is great power and satisfaction in working toward a common cause. I have no idea whether all of those kids embraced with equal fervor the music they were singing, whether they all derived the same joy from singing it, whether they all found it their proverbial cup of choral tea.
What was obvious was their dedication to learning it and performing it well and their pride in being able to meld together to produce such joy and satisfaction.
The lyrics of one of the selections seemed to underscore all of that, with its emphasis on the power of togetherness in navigating a judgmental world.
I don’t stand a chance if it’s me in this world all alone.
The chatter is deafening, too overwhelming, hard to find my way home.
So take my hand . . . don’t let go.
I don’t want to oversell this, or grasp beyond my reach here. But there was something special about the music and the kids who delivered it that is worth remembering and playing back in my mind. Because the truth is that we find our inspiration in all sorts of places at all different times, and it’s always precious to discover that and important to hold onto it.
When you find yourself wondering about our direction as a nation, our capacity to get things done, our ability or willingness to work together for the benefit of all, you might want to stop and think about our kids standing on a stage making beautiful music together.
And you might also want to think about all of us, too, and the many forums in which we do come together. In our own adult music groups and theatrical productions. In community cleanups and block parties. In volunteering campaigns, fund drives and charity walks. And in sitting in the audience as our children and grandchildren remind us of the best we can be.
It would be nice if we could focus on that, as often as possible, on all of our election eves and all the days of our lives.
Columnist Michael Dobie’s opinions are his own.
Michael Dobie is a member of the Newsday editorial board.