Father-Son Bonds Strengthened Through Music

William P. Merrill, an American Presbyterian minister and hymn writer, once said, “There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is.”

For Jim Reitz, those words truly hit home.

“There’s no other way to describe it, but singing fills my soul,” said Reitz, who along with his 17-year-old son Jonathan, are members of the New Jersey Choral Society, which recently opened its 2011-12 season with a performance at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, in Montclair.

Even more important, said the Franklin Lakes resident, has been the special bond created between him and Jonathan that arose from sharing in the music participation.

“Everything else gets put aside, including our differences. It’s like our little Switzerland where we don’t discuss cleaning up rooms or doing homework,” said Reitz, who added that he’s taken some of his cues from his talented son, a senior at Indian Hills High School.

“Jonathan has been very fortunate to have been involved with the New York Metropolitan Children’s Chorus, and he was a guest soloist at an NJCS event in 2007,” Reitz said, adding that music was a big part of his life, too, when he was younger. “But I got away from it for a few years because work got too busy.”

Then a friend invited Jim to come to a choir rehearsal at church and there was an immediate “reconnection” with music.

“It’s a lot of work and sometimes, after a three-hour rehearsal, exhausting,” Reitz said, “but always worth it. Some people say they get the same feeling after working out at the gym or being in an athletic event. You’re tired, but it’s a good tired.”

Jim and Jonathan are the first father-son duo for the NJCS, singing baritone and tenor, respectively. They are part of the NJCS Camerata, a select chamber chorus directed by Maestro Eric Knapp, which performs classical pieces a cappella.

There are three upcoming Christmas concerts, entitled “On a Winter’s Night”: Dec. 3 & 4 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Montclair; and Dec. 11 at the West Side Presbyterian Church, Ridgewood. For ticket information and directions, visit the NJCS website.