The Concert of a Lifetime The concert has begun after a fifteen minute delay caused from the powder snow that started early on in the day and continued through the evening. There I stood up in front of the small crowd on this snowy Sunday evening. I glanced out upon the crowd as the piano picked up speed and intensity. I knew that I was about to strike that F chord in a few measures. I quickly removed the moisture from my fingers with the cloth I brought with me.
The band had a special meeting planned after we played the music for our church’s Thanksgiving Supper. We showed up to the church on a cold Saturday morning, making our way to the auditorium. We began to discuss the plans, ideas, or even the thoughts that we had for what we should do next. Dan, the first to talk whatever the occasion, said, “I think we should work on writing our own songs.” That idea was quickly reviewed and considered to be an option. I thought a little bit harder about what to do and suddenly it came to me. “We should have a Christmas concert.
We can all pick out our favorite Christmas songs and perform them.” Now this was a first class idea. Now the band had an idea, we had the backbone for our future, but we were still missing our guitar player; whose absence haunted us for the fourth week straight. We had to begin regardless of the scenario, and we began picking out songs, one by one. The most obvious choices were the most popular Christmas songs, such as: Tran-Siberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, along with other Christmas favorites. NFL draft style, the selections rolled on until we had picked out close to one hundred songs.
The Essay on Christmas Eve
Many holidays are linked to faiths and religions. There are many holidays such as Tet holiday, Easter holiday, Labor Day…that being celebrate around the world. Among all those holiday, I think the most meaningful holiday is Christmas holiday. Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and it’s celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around the world, ...
Now we must eliminate certain songs based on the instruments that they use, the difficulty of the song, and making sure the song was church appropriate, since that was were the concert would be held. We picked four of the TSO songs, one of the Mannheim Steamroller songs, and a few carols for after the concert, so everyone could join in. Now the concert was in place, we picked out our music, but now we were missing our other guitar player. He told us that he was going down to Tennessee to record an album with his other band and would be gone for two weeks. If this wasn’t bad enough, our other guitarist was nowhere to be found.
This forced us to make different roles for each member to fill. I had to play lead guitar for the TSO songs, including the famous Christmas Eve Sarajevo, better known as Carol of the Bells. Practices began with a piano, bass, one guitar and the drums. We were in desperate need of a keyboard player to imitate the orchestra’s part in the concert. Running out of options, we looked to the church and found a keyboardist that had long been a friend and supporter of the band. Things began to look up for the concert, but the worst was about to happen to the band.
The next month, about two weeks away from the performance date, as everyone set up their instruments for another day of practice, the drummer began his speech. “Guys, this band is one of the best I’ve ever played with, but my wife is having a lot of health problems, so I have to quit the band.” Everyone in the room was shocked that this was happening. The concert was about to take a dive. The drummer left and we immediately asked the only question on our minds, can we do it? Half of us said that we can’t, and the other half said that we could do it. We we ” re split down the middle and only had one choice; play the concert. Here I am, in front of more than fifty people, playing my fingers to the bone.
I haven’t gone to sleep for about fifty hours, I haven’t been eating right, I’ve been practicing for the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, and now it was paying off. The small children in the front were gleaming with joy of the season, and the adults in the back were tapping their toes to the beat of their favorite songs. As we played the last song, smiles came across the band members’ faces as we all realized that we could pull it off, and all we had to do was try and believe in ourselves. Now that was a night to remember, and one that I will never forget..
The Essay on Lee Played Guitar School
In the fall of 1993, while the rest of America was electing Bill Clinton as their president, most typical seventh grade boys were busy mutilating their toy Ninja Turtles or harassing their helpless little sisters. However, there was one thirteen year old that would have nothing to do with such frivolities. He spent his days in seclusion, hours in his room without the sound of anyone's voice but ...
