I think it was around 1966-67, and I was in 7th grade. I belonged to the Chorus of my Junior High School. We were about 40-50 students. We met an hour before school started, and our director was Miss Lyles, one of the music teachers in the school. I don't know what her first name was. She may not have had one. We were a little afraid of Miss Lyles, because she could be tough. She expected you to try your best, and she wasn't one to put up with nonsense.
It was just after our return from Christmas vacation, and we were beginning to rehearse for our spring concert a few months away. One of the selections Miss Lyles had chosen was "The Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah. None of us had ever heard it before, and when we got the music booklets, we were stunned because it was 14 pages long! We started at the beginning, learning each of our parts of the four-part construction of the piece. When we had learned a new section, we would end our rehearsal time by taking the piece from the beginning and singing up through the new part we had just learned.
It took us a couple of months, and in the middle of that time, Miss Lyles was absent for about three weeks, because her sister had gotten sick. Another music teacher had taken her place for our practices in order to keep us making progress through this piece. He was a nice, quiet man, but he was no "Miss Lyles". At the end of those three weeks, one morning during our practice time, Miss Lyles came running down the aisle of the auditorium, her coat flapping, still carrying her suitcase. We were so happy to see her return that we started cheering. She had a big grin on her face, and the other poor music teacher laid his head down on the piano in relief! Miss Lyles was back, and we immediately got down to real business.
On the morning that we finished page 14, the last page, we started from the beginning, and sang all the way through successfully to the end. We were thrilled. We had done it! It sounded great- to our untrained ears, anyway. We continued to rehearse it each morning.
One morning, Miss Lyles was late. When she finally came into the auditorium, we knew something was wrong. Miss Lyles made the announcement, "The Hallelujah Chorus is out. We're not going to be performing it."
We were stunned. After working on it for so long, how could it be out? We asked her if it was because were weren't good enough. Was she displeased with us? "No, no", she said. "It had nothing to do with that." "Then why, Miss Lyles?", we asked.
She told us that because we had worked so hard, we deserved to know the truth. She had been called into the principal's office that morning, and he had asked her what musical selections she had been preparing for the coming spring concert. She told him the selections, including, of course, "The Hallelujah Chorus" for the finale. He told her we couldn't do that selection, because it was too religious. She argued that it was a classic. He said "It's out." She told him that if he could just come to the auditorium, he could hear for himself how hard we had worked, and how well we sang it. He said, "It's out, period." He said he didn't want to hear anymore argument about it. We were shocked-nobody talked to Miss Lyles, of all people, so disrespectfully. She ended practice early, and told us that we would begin learning the new, substitute selections next time. I have to admit, I couldn't like that principal after he did that, although, now being older, I can see it's possible that someone might have made a complaint to him about the selection, and he had no other choice than to do what he did. But at that age, I felt it was his job as principal, to stick up for us, and stand for the right thing.
What are we teaching our children by what we refuse to teach them?
From that point on, I knew that there was something wrong with the world. I didn't know what it was, or why it was, but whatever it was, it could impact my life, even though I was still a kid. I also found out for the first time, through this incident, that some thought there was something wrong with being "too religious".
However now, whenever I hear the Hallelujah Chorus, I sing my part the way that Miss Lyles taught me all those years ago. I still remember it very well.
"And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left." Isa. 30:20-21
"I will teach you by the hand of God; What is with the Almighty, I will not conceal."
Job 27:11
Our Father provides us with precious teachers.
"Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah (Dedicated to Miss Lyles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c
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