Tonight, like every Christmas season, John conducted the orchestra for our big downtown church. It's a volunteer group that comes together to practice a dozen or more Christmas carols only once, and that just two hours before the service. John and the music director assign parts six weeks ahead of time and send the music out to the players---some fifty of them tonight. They range in quality from middle-schoolers to symphony players, but somehow John brings the best out of them and they end up sounding fantastic. He's a real pro if I say so myself.
