Joyous Reaction - That's What I Want

The Christmas countdown is now at 35 days!

In keeping with the holiday spirit, my dad sent me a great video this week. Apparently, on October 30th of this year, the Philadelphia Opera company invited some other choir friends to help them out with a surprise concert at Macy's.  Macy's is now open on the site of what used to be the great Wanamaker Grand Court Organ company. They still do mini-concerts daily and weekly on the great pipe organ that is in the Grand Court.  I think the architecture and the beautifully restored organ would be a wonderful treat for any event but the video that my dad sent me is a of a very special event, an organized random act of culture.

The Joyous Reaction

I don't think the shoppers were prepared for the surprise concert that they received while they shopped on this particular busy Saturday.  As the worlds largest pipe organ began to play The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah",  over 650 choristers,  who were dispersed among the four floors of crowds began to sing.  What I love about this video is the shoppers that get caught up in moment.  All the choristers seem to be wearing a special button and they look like they are having a great time but it is the shoppers that were unprepared for this event, who I like to watch the most.  In particular, there is this woman who just throws her hands into the air and is fully immersed in joyful reaction to this wonderful surprise, as she too begins to sing with gusto.

I want to be like that woman this holiday season.  That despite all the business that surrounds Christmas that I don't forget to be joyful, to be fully immersed in remembering why I celebrate this particular day and to not be distracted by my to do lists or all the details that need to get done. I have no idea of the religious convictions of the woman in the video but for me she was definitely a beautiful light amongst hundreds of shoppers and choristers.  Her reaction to the moment and the words of the song made me want to sing and to praise the King of Kings.  And so I did. 

I wasn't able to make the video as small as I wanted. Here is the link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU

Enjoy!


If you like art, music and creativity check out my husband Jason's blog for Free Art Fridays