Come, Ye Disconsolate

Tonight I had dinner with one of my oldest friends. When I started to work on my Master's Degree at Auburn University I became friends with a senior Music Education major named John Baker. At the end of that year we both moved to jobs teaching choral music in south Georgia. A few years later we both moved to south Alabama. Over all these years we've remained good friends, and now after nearly 30 years, we've seen each other's kids grow up and listened to each other's choirs. And it was good to have the chance to reflect on events in our careers.

Without doubt, the most memorable event in my friendship with John happened on March 1, 2007. That was the day that the 2007 Alabama All-State Choir rehearsals began at Samford University in Birmingham. Two of my kids had auditioned and been selected, so I was thrilled that the event was happening so near my office, and I was hanging around to listen. It wasn't long until I ran into John, and we had lunch together.

Right after we finished eating lunch, John's cell phone rang, and both his life and career changed dramatically. The band director at his school was calling to tell John that their school, Enterprise High School, had just been hit by a powerful tornado. Everything was destroyed, and John needed to try to locate his two sons who were at the school.

In the chaos that followed, John found his sons and his wife, and tried to figure out whether to return with his 20 students who were attending All-State. They didn't really know whether their homes would be there when they got there. As the dust cleared and the clean-up began, they found that several students had been lost as the building collapsed, including two students who were members of John's chorus.

As John and I talked every few days, it was evident that the devastation had left a deep wound in the lives of everyone in Enterprise. John's students met to decide how best to honor their fallen classmates, and decided that the best thing to do was to keep singing. They attended a national Show Choir competition a few days later and won first place, receiving a prolonged ovation from the crowd of competitors who wanted so badly to help in some way. They spontaneously took up money and sent the Enterprise chorus home with a nest-egg to use in rebuilding their choral library. Not long afterward, two of the largest churches in Atlanta combined to present a benefit concert, with hundreds of singers and members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (who donated their playing!), and featuring the Enterprise Chorus.

Like so many people, I wished for something to do that might help. Since I think in hymns, my mind was drawn to an old, little-used hymn that had meant a lot to me in difficult times, "Come, Ye Disconsolate."

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,

Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,

Hope when all others die, fadeless and pure!

Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,

“Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure.”

Here see the Bread of Life, see waters flowing

Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.

Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing

Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.

I wrote an arrangement of the hymn and dedicated it to the students of Enterprise High School's Chorus. I sent a copy to John, to get his approval before I showed it to anyone. He called to say that they were learning it and planning to sing it. I asked when and where so I could attend, and he told an astonishing story. He said that after the tornado, President Bush had visited the site, which I had seen on the news. But what was surprising was the fact that the President had continued to correspond with the principal, Mr. Reyner, to ask about the progress being made in restoring the school. And Mr. Reyner and President Bush had arranged for John's chorus to give a special concert in the East Room of the White House. So they were planning to give the first performance of "Come, Ye Disconsolate" in that concert. I used my frequent flyer miles and went with them, accompanying the piece. I'll never forget the sight of John and Mr. Reyner, who had shepherded these students through such trying days, standing arm in arm, and leading them together in their Alma Mater in the East Room of the White House.

Meanwhile, I presented the piece in a conference of church musicians, and the President of Morningstar Music Publishers was there. He approached me and offered to publish it. This year it's one of their best-sellers.

http://http//www.morningstarmusic.com/viewitem.cfm/item_id/50-2602

I know this has been a long story, but John and I have a long friendship. And I've seen many years' worth of students from Enterprise, Alabama, who had richer lives because they had a great choral director. This year they were invited to be the featured chorus in the nationally televised Lighting of the National Tree. Once again I went to Washington, and saw these triumphant young singers give a great performance before a national audience. The audience couldn't have guessed what these beautiful performers had been through so recently. To have played a small part in the most dramatic chapter in that long history has been one of my greatest privileges.