Least you all believe that we didn't actually do any singing or learn much while we were gone, I present to you this post. 
I really enjoy the week at singing school every year. I never would have imagined that it would mean so much to me, before I started going. However, a week of good and Godly company, clean fun, and a complete lack of phones, tvs, internet, work, and all things worldly, does my soul good. I may be a bit physically tired afterward, but my soul gets recharged. 
Each morning the boys cook and serve breakfast, before we head off to devotional with Bro. Charles. He preaches a 30 min sermon, and sometimes, you can tell when he has to sit down that he just got going. Our theme verse this year came from Colossians 3:17, "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Over the course of the week we came to understand that everything we do, whether we say it or actually do it, it should be to God's glory, to reflect possitively on his name, because no matter what we do or say, when people know that we call ourselves Christians, they draw assumptions about us, our family, our Church, and our Lord. We should always want to bring glory to His name by the way we act. Not shame. We also learned, if what we are doing doesn't bring honor to him, if where we go, who we hang out with, the movies we see, the music we listen to, then we don't need to be doing those things. Finally toward the end of the week, we talked about how we are to always give thanks when we pray, and that we can only pray and be thankful in what Jesus has done for us, and continues to do for us, interceding on our behalf. 
Then we split into classes. This year they added a class or two. There is the preschool class, this year it was all 2 yr olds, one 3 year old and one 4 year old. There biggest accomplishment we were told was learning to sit in their chairs and not get up. They added a 6 and 7 year old class, for those who are learning to read. There is an elementry school class, a middle school class, and the year the highschool/adult class was split up into a highschool class and a college/adult class. We worked on all sorts of things in class: beating time, rhythms, pitches, and leading. We had two morning classes and then lunch. 
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
After lunch we would have another class then general assembly, where leaders would lead, and we would practice following, and actually watching the leader, rather than staring at our books. Here is a video of some stuff from one of the afternoon sessions
.
.
In the late afternoon is when the afore mentioned games went on. During that time, some also sung Sacred Harp. As I was outlawed from games, I sung an afternoon or two, but mostly took naps, or watched the games.
Later on in the evening after everyone cleaned up from the dusty and sweaty condition they were in from the games, we had supper, and evening assembly for more leaders to practice. After that we had an hour or so in the evening to play volleyball, walk around, visit, sing sacred harp, and just visit.
In the dorms, I enjoyed my last year for sometime with the girls. Talking about all sorts of boys excluded subjects, and trying to figure out when they would know if he was the right one to marry. Most of all I enjoyed our nightly devotionals. Laura always does them, and she has a great deal of insight into the scriptures. This year while the boys talked more about our theme verse, we focused on the book of Ruth, covering a chapter a night. Gary and I before we got married spent a good deal of time studying it together, but as always I was delighted to find even more in the beautiful story. There are so many wonderful pictures of Christ and His relationship with us and with the Church. It's also a great short read, if you are looking for something short to study. 
Finally, at the end of the week we have a Friday night assembly to allow other to see what we've been doing all week. Parents want to know that their kids are learning, the local Baptist Association whose campground we use want to know that we are doing something constructive, and the church whose building we borrow on Friday night, enjoys hearing the singing. I got several pictures of all the groups, and recorded the high school class, but I forgot to have someone record our class.
The final thing I will leave you with is the high school class with Bro. Bryce. The first song is a song in the little book, I don't know the number in the new book, but it's one that Bro. Bryce wrote. The second song that they sing deserves a little recognition. The lyrics come from the old Lloyd's Hymnal, a tiny little book with around a 1,000 songs, but no music. In the past, a leader would have lined out the song, to one of the 5 to 10 sets of music that the congregation knew. The style of singing is still practiced in some parts of the country such as the Smokies. During the week, Bro. Bryce wrote the melody, and in class they wrote the other three parts. I sat in on that class, because I have always wanted to know how to write music. I have tunes that I make up, but no idea how to write them down or how to write harmony. One of the happiest things for me from this year was learning how to do this. My finished version independently done, was almost the same except for the tenor line, Bro. Bryce looked over it said it looked good to go round up some people and see how it all sounded together. I found some folk who didn't mind, and they actually liked it. My goal is to write a song by singing school next year, and they plan to have a class just for writing music and singing music that we've written next year. The highschool class's verison of the song is beautiful, I hope you will enjoy it.
8 random thoughts