Emily Gray Stewart: Hallelujah

11.11.2015

Hallelujah

Christmas was just around the corner and my daddy thought that it would be a fun, bonding experience for us to sing in the choir. He and my sister, Mary Ashley, have pretty good singing voices so it was a piece of cake for them, but I was not blessed in that department. However, in the name of family (and Christmas), I signed up too.

We had practiced for a few weeks and were improving with each rehearsal. There were so many songs to learn and we had to sing them over and over and over and over. I remember thinking, “Why do we practice so much?…It’s not like we don’t know how to read the words and open our mouths and let our voices exit.”

At one of our final rehearsals, we had quickly warmed up and practiced a few songs. It was time to sing “Hallelujah”. This was one of my least favorites because I felt like we just repeated the same things over and over and that the pitch was higher and harder to reach with each new line.

So, we sang through most of the song and I was thinking that we would never get to the end. Oh my word. It just kept going and going. Forever and ever. I sat there staring off into space, not really paying attention because I already knew the words. I didn’t need to look at the booklet or the director. I knew this.

“And He shall reign for ever and ever,

for ever and ever,

King of Kings,

and Lord of Lords,

King of Kings,

and Lord of Lords,

and He shall reign for ever and ever,

King of Kings,

and Lord of Lords.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

(side note - this is where the song ends and EVERYONE else stops singing)

HALLELUJAH!

(additional side note - this is where I continued singing one “Hallelujah” TOO many)

As I was screeching out the additional Hallelujah, in a voice that should have killed the other singers, I realized too late what was happening. Everyone. Every single person. They all turned around and looked at me in sheer horror. The music had stopped. The singing had stopped. You couldn’t hear anything, except my breathing turning into hyperventilating. All of a sudden, all I could think about was that Kyle Wasser was turned around staring straight at me in shock and that I had been terribly wrong…I actually DID need the words AND the director.

Lesson Learned.

But, the biggest lesson that I learned was to NEVER again sing in a Christmas Choir.

Hallelujah.