Angels Heard on High

When I was five years old, I had my first public singing performance.  It was a holiday pageant for children and I was Head Angel.

I know the details are a bit fuzzy, but I assure you this is me.  I still have the wings and the halo, in fact.  My mother made them.

As circular as life can be, it seems things may have come ’round.  This evening I played the role of The Angel in a performance of a Calvin Hampton arrangement of We Three Kings.  His title of choice is The Wisemen Cometh and it is a really lovely 20th-Century adaptation and harmonization of the story and melody.  See the three kings in the lower right-hand corner of the photo up there?  Well, this time around I got to stand nearer the kings.  Like, right next to them.  And, they sang better, too.

What’s even better is that I got to sing my favorite things: high notes!  I may not have been physically at the top of the set as I was in my first performance, but I hope I was able to bring Hampton’s work to life as he would have liked.