Remember the days of going to music stores, flipping through their browsing boxes, and maybe finding a keyboard somewhere to hear a piece of interest? Then publishers began mailing "approval" copies, then CDs, and now all is both visible and audible, well, you know where. I work hard to make my audio files as realistic as possible, but for both the music and text there's no real substitute for a live recording.
In February, 2019, sixteen accomplished SATB singers recorded several pieces for cameratapress.com. Wintry weather caused those sessions to be postponed for one week. This year I wanted to avoid such an inconvenience and scheduled our weekend recording with twelve TTBB singers in the spring.
Now, who cares about snow and ice, just give us back our choirs! The Men's Chorale rescheduled our early June recording for late August, and that also seems quite iffy. Certainly, performing groups both vocal and instrumental won't just go away, but massive global upsets take time for coping. Let us pray for the early return of choirs, congregations, and audiences!
–David A. Seitz