Last week, Abby called and asked if I would play the piano for her to try out for Madrigals.  She has been taking singing lessons and has a lovely voice.  She brought the music over while I was still in Arizona and I was delighted to find she had picked one of my favorite songs.  It's from Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella".  I remember watching the movie with Leslie Ann Warren as Cinderella when I was a little girl and falling in love with the music from it.  I always thought she was just the most beautiful lady.  Well Abby picked "In my own little corner".  As soon as I sat down and played it, all the words and music came right back to me and I could see Leslie dancing around the room singing this song.
Abby and I practiced on Wednesday night during the yw-ym combined.  She sounded great...I was a pretty shaky...this piece was pretty challenging, and she wanted to go pretty fast.  So I really practiced for the next few days.  Friday she text me and asked if I could come over early so we could go through it before the try out.  We went in a rehearsal room and this time when we went through it, her voice was much stronger and I didn't mess up nearly so much.
I was surprised to see how many kids were trying out...the choir room was full.  It was exhilarating to be there with them.  They are so full of  life!  They were all really supportive of each other too...they had made posters wishing good luck and they all cheered for each other when they went up to try out.
It really took me back to my high school days when I was in choir.  I sure loved singing in the choir. I loved our choir director Mr. Looslie...he expected a lot from us and everyone wanted to do their best for him.  I loved going around to different wards singing at Christmas time...the music was so beautiful and dang we were good!  I still have the record they made of our final concert.
Anyway,  it was nice to see Leah too.  She directed a women's choir I sang in a few years ago and is just an amazing lady.  She has a unique and special relationship with these kids and you could see how they loved her.  She got up at the start and talked to the kids and became quite emotional.  She said choosing just 14 of them out of the probably 80 people that were there trying out was one of the hardest things she has to do.  I can't even imagine.  It means so much to some of these kids.
She said they would have all the ones who had an accompanist there to play for them go first so Abby was number 3.  It was fun to listen to the ones before her try out...some good, some not as good.  When Abby's turn came, she walked up there and introduced her song and accompanist.  The kids were super supportive and all cheering for her.  She was very poised and lovely. 
Then I started to play.  It felt weird on that big grand piano...but I played OK.  Abby sounded beautiful.  He voice was loud and clear and right on key..  When she finished, they all cheered again.  Gosh I was just proud of her.    She was so grateful to me for playing for her...she brought over those cute bunny salt and pepper shakers, some bunny candy corn ( how sweet that she remembered how much I love candy corn!) and the nicest card.  She's a special girl with her head on straight.  She knows what she wants out of life and lives so that she can achieve her goals. I love her like one of my own.  It's pretty cool to see how excited these kids are about life and the bright future ahead of them.