Singing for a 20th Encore

With the uncommon pose of putting his back to the orchestra, conductor David Herberg surveyed his audience at the April 17 performance of the at .

“How many first sopranos do I have?” he asked the audience. A handful of women stood in the left rows of the audience.

In this Messiah Sing-along–the 20th annual such performance hosted by the West Valley Presbyterian Church--the orchestra handles the music, but the audience takes care of the vocals.

On this day’s performance, the orchestra and singing audience covered Handel’s complete oratorio, but West Valley also hosted a performance featuring popular selections the next day, April 18.

For audience members wanting to get some practice, Herberg held four informal rehearsals--a tradition that he said the church started about 10 to 12 years ago.

Herberg said that he usually practices about three songs for each of the four rehearsals each year, and tries to switch up the selection each year to cover as much of Messiah as possible over the years.

Soprano Kumiko Nishikawa, who attended the second and third optional rehearsal this year, said she felt familiar with most of the songs but her favorites are numbers 38 and 44, Hallelujah.

Technically, the singing audience is divided into sections–the main double-door leading into the sanctuary are labeled “tenor” and “bass” while the side entrances are designated for altos and sopranos–but the divisions remained informal.  Sopranos sat among basses and every singer decides for themselves the section they sing for.

Parts that Handel intended for soloists were instead sung by the entire section–one of the reasons she especially likes the Messiah Sign, said soprano Susan Daijo.

“If you want to, you can sing anything,” she said.

About 10 minutes before the intermission cuts the more than two-hour long Spring Sing in half, a committee of volunteers had already set up tables with water cups outside of the church.

They did not miss the performance, volunteer Sharon Steller said. “We’ve been there for most of the first part,” she said.

“We do it as a labor of love,” said fellow volunteer Michelle Smith.

An intermission and more than an hour of singing later, the singers in the audience erupted in cheers. In the front row, a group of three sopranos hugged each other.

“Sounds like you need a cool down exercise,” said Herberg. “Let’s do cool down exercise number 44.”

And with this encore of Hallelujah, Nishikawa and kindred souls got a second helping of a favorite.

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