Honoring our Pioneers

As a person who does not have pioneers who traveled across the planes (my ancestors flew over in planes... does that count?) I still feel very connected to the early pioneers of the Salt Lake Valley.

As a child growing up in Salt Lake City the 24th of July was always celebrated with my family. My uncle even participated in the annual Parade leading the "Liahona Alumni Band" from Tonga. My uncle was the Music Teacher as Liahona High School in Tonga. A school established by the Church which educated generations of Tongans as well as my parents. My parents met there, fell in love and eventually created me. I marched in the parade when I became older playing the trumpet. My last year marching was about 4 years ago and it was great fun but I could tell I was much, much older and my lips were tired after playing the whole time.

Well, the choir has been practicing music for the annual Pioneer Day celebration and now I can participate by sharing music but in an air conditioned, climate control environment in a grand hall. We have been practicing for a few weeks but when I say practice it really isn't like a normal practice. Everything is very focused and time is very, very limited. In fact, we were still learning about music changes on Thursday, the day before the concert.

There is a lot of Disney music to learn and memorize. I love Disney music. It's a lot of fun. My favorite song? Whistle While You Work/Heigh Ho! Why? I don't know. It just made me happy to sing it. The video of us singing it is included below.

#lyricsthatmakemegohymn

Santino Fontana joined the choir for the celebration. He is most famously known as the voice of Prince Hans in the Disney movie entitled, Frozen. He has a fantastic voice.

Surprising fact: I enjoyed the concert as much as the people watching the concert because we had not run through it at all. Everything Santino was saying was new as well. We ran through the songs on Thursday a few times but nothing like actually going through the whole concert. It's amazing to see how things come together.

Here are some highlights:
Standing Ovation goes to Richard Elliot and the orchestra for their fantastic musical piece called, Hot Pipes.

And here it is!

The concert was great fun to do because the music was so much fun. Some Broadway, lots of Disney and hymns. What a mix of music.

A special number was written with a medley of songs using the word, "Happy." Here it is for your enjoyment.

 I would like to thank the early pioneers for their legacy and example. Thanks for all you have done and I salute you.

Here is the whole concert on Youtube. I was surprised it would be there but they posted it very quickly.