In the last issue of Quarter Notes I mentioned our efforts to focus on community building as a key to achieving choir goals. One thing prompting this new focus is that after every spring tour, we see a quantum leap in the choir's musical growth and commitment to one another. These two outcomes are mutually dependent.

Let me elaborate. Most young people are filled with anxiety about two basic questions: "How well am I doing?" and, "How am I fitting in?" It's no different in the choir. For choristers to be at their best artistically, they need to know that they are welcome and accepted for who they are. When we address their need to belong and be valued in the group, they are freed to try a very daring thing for an adolescent: to express the deep emotions that music allows them to feel.

That's why tour is an ideal place for this to happen. We are a self-contained singing community for five days. The intensity of multiple performances each day and the necessity of getting along with ones fellow travelers produces the relational and musical high octane that propels them to new vistas. In fact, the
common refrain after every tour is: I wish we could be this close all year.

So here's the obvious question: What would happen if we made community building a core value all season?

Our recent tour to Seattle provided the answer. Looking at the eager faces on the tour coach as we prepared to leave Eugene, I realized we had already reached an important goal: We were starting this tripwith the high level oftrust and fellowship that usually followed our tours.

As a result, the next five days surpassed the most remarkable experiences in OFC's ten-year history. Each day was filled with new insight, extraordinary musical growth and a celebration of our season-long work at building a community.

On our final evening, choristers, music staff and parent chaperones gathered in the hotel conference room. We sat in a circle on the floor as everyone was invited to share what they valued about their choir experience this season. More than a few told how the welcoming communityof the choir opened them up to life in profound ways. Some who had been mortally shy were now expressive and confident. Others who had always felt like outsiders in life had a certainty of being part of something bigger than themselves, replacing self-doubt with the joy and freedom that comes from belonging. Still others pledged a new resolve to continue growing musically because of the exhilaration and transformative power of learning to be expressive musicians.

The next day was our final event - a workshop on the PLU campus with Dr. Richard Nance, conductor of PLU's renowned Choir of the West and president of the American Choral Directors Association's Northwest region. Our choristers sang with a beauty and expressiveness that exceeded anything I'd ever heard or seen from an OFC ensemble.

Dr. Nance spoke to the choir with tears in his eyes. "Your singing is so beautiful. What moves me most is that you are all so connected to the music and to each other."

During the next half hour, Dr. Nance led our choristers to a level of artistry that astonished us all, affirming the new path we had started down this season, and opening us to the possibilities of extraordinary music making. His words echoed our own discoveries that the music was not the end in itself, but an expression of the wonderful growth going on in each of our lives.

My friends, we don't go through this process simply to create beautiful music. We go through the process of creating beautiful music because the very character traits and insights about life that are necessary to get there are the same things that turn children into caring, confident, productive young people - ready to make their way in the world. For some it is a signpost along the way. For many it is a lifeboat through the difficult waters of adolescence. And for some it is literally life-saving.

As we continue to extend this experience to more, we need your help now more than ever. Please consider sponsoring tuition for one or more choristers a year or making a gift to the general operating fund.

Join us in Creating a Singing Community. And thank for your support.