JOY! JOY! JOY! This is for all the Pendleton Peeps, of a certain age (like a little older than me, and a little younger than me) who sang in the Jubilate Chorus of the Pendleton Easter Pageant when we were in elementary school. Dont be thrown off by the title of the recording below . . . this piece of music started its life off (ironically) as the War March of The Priest from Mendelssohns Attila, but became the JOY, JOY, JOY that we all sang, hundreds of us dressed in our pastel Jerusalem robes our mammas had made for us, singing at the top of our lungs as Joyce McCarty conducted us, and Elizabeth Edmundson (on the piano) and Kay Bussabarger (on the piano) accompanied us gorgeously. The entire auditorium of the old Pendleton High School was flooded with the scent of the Easter Lillies that were everywhere along the side of the stage, and the entire town of Pendleton would come together for two performances on Easter Sunday -- one at 6 a.m. (sunrise) and one at 8 a.m. (My mother was chairman of the make-up committee, and my dad was Judas for years and years. My first appearance on stage anywhere was as the baby Jesus in 1956, and then I later graduated to being the beggar boy! Everybody in town was in the pageant, and the voices were glorious! I especially remember Mona Hoffman and her daughters Trudi and Heddi singing so extraordinarily as three nomadic women -- complete with finger cymbals!!!) And after the two shows, all the hundreds of people who had performed in the Easter Pageant, and all the thousands of people who had watched it, would scatter off to their own churches, followed by their own family dinners. Absolutely pure small town JOY, the kind that really doesnt exist anymore. I hope this music brings back memories. And by the way, it was arranged for the Easter Pageant (and a bit simplified from Mendelssohns original) by Naomi McVaugh, who was another amazing musician who lived in Pendleton. Naomi was a conservatory-trained singer and pianist, and she and her husband Ralph ((a/k/a Doc McVaugh, who was the town dentist back then), lived two doors down from us on State Street, with a fantastic Steinway in her living room. And let us not forget the incredible Irene Owens, who directed and started the whole pageant. (And Doug Owens, who narrated it with his resonate voice!!) Like I said, it was all pure Small Town Magic. If I remember the words we sang, they were . . . Joy! Joy! Joy! Sound triumphant, Allelujah! For Christ has risen! Christ has Risen! Tis Easter Day! Joy! Joy! Joy! Life on earth is touching Heav-en, For Christ has risen! Christ has Risen! Tis Easter Day! Allelujah!! Jubilate!! Christ has risen today!! (Or something very close to that.) Happy Easter to everybody, and especially to my Pendleton friends who all sang this joyous chorus too. (I have a tear in my eye as I am writing this.) And take a listen to this music and sing along on the main choruses!! m.youtube/watch?v=cKWelcf2oTo&feature=kp
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 19:03:31 +0000
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