Caroling, Caroling (12/15/24)

Under the auspices of the West Village Chorale, caroling was attained. This year, we gathered at a different place. Since it was new, I arrived early. Since I was early, I was in Group 1.

It was a little better organized this year but still got off to a late start. The Group 1 leader had a suggested route. She couldn't get her GPS to play well with others. Ain't technology grand?

We sang lots of favorites—The First Nowell, Hark! the Herald Angels, Let it Snow!, Winter Wonderland, The Little Drummer Boy (which flagged a bit because no one knew how long to wait between lines of the song), Jingle Bells, Silver Bells (and, yes, I had my Thelma bell with me), Deck the Halls! (I still maintain that it should be Hall), and Oh, Come All Ye Faithful (an intrepid caroler even led us in the first verse in Latin, which was included in our songbook).

My only quibble? The group leader asked for a crowd favorite at the beginning of each stop. If I were a group leader (and I do not want to be a group leader), at each stop I would announce what song we would start with and ask the group to have a suggestion for a second song. Organization plus inclusion.

Will I attend next year? I'll certainly try.

ConcertMeister