Always check the button

With Christmas Eve right around the corner, I can't help but think of a few poignant Christmas memories. I'll try to share some each day as we approach Christmas...

Today's memory is dedicated to my Uncle John. :)

Several years ago, when our church was still meeting at the Marion Community Center, we planned a Christmas Eve service. It included special music, white lights, and a special Christmas message. Included amongst the other musical numbers was "O Holy Night", a solo sung by my Uncle John. He had asked me to play the piano accompaniment for him and had mentioned that he needed the music transposed down a step and a half.

No problem. We had a nifty keyboard that had a nifty transposition button. All I had to do was set it to the right key, and make sure the light was lit before we began playing. Piece of cake.

Or so I thought.

Then our big moment came. We approached the front of the room, with twinkling white lights and our Christmas outfits on. I pushed the transposition button. I played the introduction. And my Uncle John began to sing.

Hm...I thought to myself, I don't remember him singing that high before...

I glanced at the transposition key. That's right, it's on, I thought to myself.

Uncle John continued to sing and we got to the closing line, "Oh ni--ight, div-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine O night, when Christ was born!"

Wow. I didn't know Uncle John had a falsetto voice... I thought to myself.

As we closed the song and walked back to our seats, he leaned towards me and whispered fiercely, "You didn't change the key! It was too high!"

Hm. I knew I had pushed the button. How on earth did that happen?

Afterwards, I went to the keyboard and double-checked -- yes, I had turned on the transposition feature. So how were we off? Then I checked the distance I had the transposition set at. Rather than being a step and a half lower, it was set at a half step higher.

Hehe....that would do it!

So here's to you, Uncle John, and your falsetto voice. I'll never forget that year! And I've never had so many jokes made about me forgetting to "hit the button"! I think I'll forever be paranoid about that button. :) However, he has given me second chances as we've done "O Holy Night" several times since then, and I'm proud to say, they've occured without a hitch. :)