Three Days, Three Choirs, Three Standing Ovations

[Kellie LaRue]

Hello Beautiful Choir of Compassion,

Does it get any better than multiple standing ovations?  Please read this entire email to figure out why I think the answer to this is a very clear yes.

Thank you!

Thank you to each and every one of you.  None of this would have been possible without each of you taking the time out of your already overly busy lives to take a moment to sing for Peace.  I can't thank any of you enough for how easy you made this.   It has been a great honor to work with this group.  Getting nearly 2,000 people of all ages to sing on key is herculean task on its own.  Doing this for a high-security venue was a near impossible feat and yet, we each made it graceful. Everyone really embrassed the chaos, and embodied, flexibility, mindfulness and joy at each event.  

In addition to this being both easy and joyful, we were also meaningful.  I will be forever grateful to know that for a brief moment in time, children singing about peace displaced the normal "if it bleeds, it leads" media and our children were front and center on the front page of our local media.  TV, Radio and Print journalists all focused on the simple beauty of what a child can do. Thank you!

Our Big Three Performances 

Saturday's Performance
Saturday's performance was spectacular and also a major object lesson in perspective.  Due to the acoustics in the arena, the experience was less than ideal for many of us.  However for the audience in the stadium and the television viewing audience, the auditory experience was perfect and powerful.   Folks could clearly hear the delightful interplay between the children's voices and the entire choir. 
Webcasts of the events can be found on the Seeds website  http://seedsofcompassion.org/webcast/index.html

The Green Festival
Our second performance was equally powerful.  It was absolutely wonderful for our group to cross over at both big events this weekend.  We will be invited back to the Green Festival again.  If you have any feedback on the event or would like to be contact about participating the next time, please contact Maggie McClellan at mag...@comcast.net

Convocation at the University of Washington
Our mini version of the Saturday choir gave a very powerful performance at the UW on Monday.  With about 200 folks representing about 10% of the Saturday performance, this mini-version was not the least bit small.  Once again, the children's voices were crystal clear and infused this more serious event with a lot of Joy.  

What to expect going forward?  

The choir has already received almost a dozen invitations sing, so if this speaks to you, you will have many opportunities to sing for peace.  None of these event are high security events so you can expect a return to Mary K's normal, easy going, come as you are and sing program.  

Folklife
We are currently scheduled to perform at Folk Life on Friday, May 23rd around 6:00.  More details will be forthcoming via this google group.
http://www.nwfolklife.org/

Other opportunities

I will be sending out another email in about a week with lots of little details on rehearsals, other performance opportunities and several peace camps options for the summer.  Stay tuned :)

Volunteer Jobs

There are two volunteers jobs that are vital for the choir to move forward.  If either of these appeal to you, please LMK and I will give you more information.  Both have very minimal time commitments but will make it possible for so many more of us to sing for peace. 

Webmaster --  Mary K's website http://www.childrensingforpeace.org/  is in desperate need of an overall and needs to be updated with all of the materials we so diligently collected for the google group.  If this is you skill, this is the job for you.
Grants specialist --  We all know how much easier things are to do when you are funded.  There is lots and lots of grants money out there to support these efforts for peace.  If you know about grants and are willing to share your knowledge or you are good at paperwork and are willing to learn about grants, please join our grants team.

Saying Thank you!

I try to live by the mantra a grateful heart bring great things.  Here are some suggested ways to say thanks for this amazing experience.

Make a compassion circle
The Seeds of Compassion folks have a link on their website for ways to continue to promote compassion.  Every time you promote compassion around you, you will being indirecting thanking the organizers and HH. http://www.seedsofcompassion.org/involved/
Write a testimonial or thank you to the Choir
Many folks have been deeply touched by this event.  If you are one of them, please write down your thank you and we will post them on the google group.  A few of them are already there.
Thank you to Mary K
A great way to say thank you to Mary K is to remain on the google group and continue to sing with your whole heart and participate where you can.  
Thank you to Kellie
While this has been a great joy, I need to return to my day job.  I own and operate a full service travel agency.  Like most small businesses, we live on referrals.  So if you know any businesses in need of an excellent travel agency, I would greatly appreciate a kind word. http://www.travelmeet.com/TM%26I%20Home.html

Photographs

We have been very blessed that choir member Natalie Fobes was also an official photographer for the event.  In a few weeks, Natalie will be able to share some photographs with the choir. 

Thank you once again!

Kellie