Tallahassee Democrat ❚ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2019 ❚ 1C

TLHLife

Soprano Doris Pollock lifts up her voice in joy and praise. As a for-mer education and training officer with the U.S. Air Force, her voicehas never wavered. She traveled to Libya, Turkey, Greece, Pakistanand Tehran with volunteer military choirs, allowing music to be aconstant source of comfort and companionship in her life.

“I wanted to travel and see the world,” says Pollock, who took partin traditional circle dances in Turkey and enjoyed hearing new in-struments in each country.

When she’s not in the mix of her local and church choirs, she’sproviding space for music and organizing events. Pollock served aspresident of the Tallahassee Symphony Society for two years andjoined the Tallahassee Music Guild in the early 2000s.

She’s been involved with organizing TMG’s “Sing-Along Messiah”for 12 years as publicity chair and is looking forward to the upcomingevent on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

Composer George Frideric Handel created the “Messiah” oratio in1741. Originally performed during Easter, it has become a staple of theChristmas season. It is divided into three parts, with its most iconicsection being the “Hallelujah” chorus, which Pollock enjoys hearingsung by attendees.

“The singing of the ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus tells of the coming of theLord, which in present day to me means bringing the hope, peace,and joy of Christmas,” says Pollock. “After hearing that chorus sung, Ifeel as though my Christmas is complete.”

FSU singers join with audience members in a sing-along performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at Faith Presbyterian Church. The annual event is sponsored by theTallahassee Music Guild. PHIL SEARS/TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT FILES

‘Christmas is complete’Sing-Along Messiah ushers in joy of the season

Amanda Sieradzki Council on Culture & Arts

Audience participants follow along in the songbook during asing-along performance of Handel’s “Messiah.” PHILSEARS/TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT FILESSee “MESSIAH”, Page 2C

We have finally entered into one ofmy favorite times of the year, the holi-days, which begin with Thanksgiving,then Christmas, and finally the NewYear.

My other two favorite times of theyear are October, my birth month, andnow April, the National Month of Hope.

I believe that it’s good that the holi-day season starts with Thanksgivingbecause it sets the tone quite nicely, es-pecially for those of us who are believ-ers.

We are reminded of the fact that theBible admonishes us to be thankful ev-

ery day, not just on a holiday. In Colos-sians 3:15 (NIV) it states, Let the peaceof Christ rule in your hearts, since asmembers of one body you were called topeace. And be thankful.

According to Strong’s Concordance,thankful in Colossians 3:15 is the Greekword, “eucharistos” and it means thank-ful for God’s grace working out what is(eternally) good; grateful, which liter-ally means “grace-ful (thankful) forGod’s grace” (what brings His eternal fa-vor).

As I was studying this scripture for achapel service it dawned on me how weare admonished to be grateful and nothateful. It is so easy especially in today’ssociety to just say whatever comes tomind without thinking of how it affectsothers.

We see this example in politics quite

often but I’m not talking about being po-litically correct, no it’s deeper than justsaying the right words. It’s about under-standing that all words come fromsomewhere.

Words that come from a gratefulheart produce peace and words thatcome from a hateful heart produce warand division. I’ve seen it in action timeand time again as one person speakinghateful words can cause anguish andthey are called, “fighting words.”

Over the years I’ve learned how towatch what I say and how I say it. I findthat it is easier to do when my wordscome from the right place.

Five ways to be more grateful andnot hateful

❚ Count your blessings daily, name

them one by one. ❚ Give thanks not for all things but in

all things. ❚ Learn how to praise your way

through the difficult times. ❚ Before you speak, ask yourself

where the words are coming from. If notfrom a good place then don’t say it.

❚ Use your words as healing balm,not weapons.

To hear the Think Hope PodcastLearn How to Be Grateful and Not Hate-ful please visit www.blogtalkra-dio.com/thinkhope

Rosalind Y. Tompkins received a doc-torate of humanities degree from theFive Fold Ministry Theological Univer-sity in 2012. Find out more at www.Ro-salindytompkins.com.

Begin holidays by being grateful, not hatefulRosalind TompkinsGuest columnist

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2C ❚ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2019 ❚ TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

SU | DO | KU Dave Green

Enter a numeralfrom 1 through 9 ineach cell of thegrid. Each row,column and regionmust contain onlyone instance ofeach numeral.

Yesterday’ssolution

Note: Puzzles in-crease in difficultyfrom Mondaythrough Sunday.

Director Ridley Scott is 82. BSinger-actor Mandy Patinkin is 67.Guitarist Shuggie Otis is 66. SingerBilly Idol is 64. Comedian Colin Mo-chrie (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) is62. Actor-director Ben Stiller is 54.DJ Steve Aoki is 42. Singer Clay Ai-ken is 41. Actress Elisha Cuthbert

(“24”) is 37. Actress Kaley Cuoco (“The Big BangTheory”) is 34. Model Chrissy Teigen is 34.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Cuoco

Aries (March 21-April 19). The execution of yourplan depends on an attitude of certainty.

Taurus (April 20-May 20). Where there’s fun,you’ll join in.

Gemini (May 21-June 21). Your voracious curios-ity must be satisfied. You’ll live by information.

Cancer (June 22-July 22). The truth seldomcomes in a pure or complete package.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22). A little flattery, a dash ofpoetry and a whole lot of paying attention to reac-tions will get you to the deal.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). The time to execute akindness is the very moment you feel the impetus todo it.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You’re happy aboutwhat you were able to get out of a situation.

Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You already know thatyou get more of what you concentrate on.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). A deadline causesstress; a purpose causes motivation.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Self-esteem doesn’talways make for high achievement. In today’s case,it will.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You generally like theway things are going. You won’t get too stressedover the little emotional blips.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20). If it matters to you, itmatters. Make that your rule.

ASTROLOGY HOLIDAY MATHIS

1782: The United States and Britain signed pre-liminary peace articles in Paris for ending the Revo-lutionary War; the Treaty of Paris was signed inSept. 1783.

TODAY IN HISTORY

Saturday

56th Annual Holiday Show: The Art of Giving “AnInternational Holiday”: 11 a.m. LeMoyne Arts, 125 N.Gadsden St. $10 for non-members; free for members.Show Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday.-Thursday; 11a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday 1-5 p.m. Sunday.Closed Mondays.The Prepared Table Grand Opening: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.Small Business Saturday. Bannerman Crossings, 3425Bannerman Road, Suite 104. Giveaways, tastings ofour food items, mulled cider, and other goodies. Fo-cus is hospitality and cooking in the home. Storytime and Activities Featuring Dear Santa andCookies for Santa: 11 a.m., Barnes & Noble Booksell-ers - Centre of Tallahassee, 2415 N. Monroe St. The Brown Goose Band Benefit for Jonah Gibbons: 8p.m., The Junction at Monroe, 2011 South Monroe St.A Tallahassee local, Jonah Gibbons, is lucky to be aliveafter he took a horrific spill off a parking garage oncampus. $15 suggested donation.

Sunday

His Garden Ministries: 1:30 p.m. Non-denominationaland Bible based informal Church service. Leroy Collins- Leon County Public Library, 200 West Park Avenue.The service will be held in Meeting Room B on theLibrary's first floor. Call 850-284-7098 if you have anyquestions. Pas de Vie Ballet presents The Nutcracker: 2:30 p.m.Lee Hall, 1601 South Martin Luther King Junior Blvd.Tickets - $15 children/students/seniors - $20 adults.Tickets sold one hour be fore each performance. “North by Northwest”: 5 p.m. 60th anniversary show-ing of classic Alfred Hitchcock film. All Saints Cinema.$6. All Saints Cinema, 918 Railroad Ave. Call 850-386-4404. www.tallahasseefilms.com.Wren’s Nest Christmas Holiday Open House: 2-4p.m., Native Nurseries, 1661 Centerville Road. Free.Stroll through our Christmas tree forest. Bluegrassmusic, wreath decorating and homemade bakedgoods with organic hot apple cider. Open on Sundaysthrough Christmas Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regularhours: Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday

Lost Mondays: 8-10 p.m., Blue Tavern, 1206 N MonroeSt., Tallahassee. $2 cover.

Tuesday

1st Tuesday Jazz Session: 8-11 p.m., Blue Tavern,1206 N Monroe St. Bob Dogan and his trio host mon-thy jazz sessions at the Tavern. 2019 Holiday Music Series: 37th Annual: 11 a.m.-1p.m., Florida Historic Capitol Museum, 400 SouthMonroe St. Experience the sounds of the season per-formed by Leon County students in the beautifullydecorated Historic Capitol. Dec. 3: Cobb MiddleSchool, 11 a.m. Dec. 5: FSU School, 11:30 a.m. Dec. 6:RAA Middle School, 11 a.m. Choral Union: 7:30 p.m., Opperman Music Hall (atFSU), 600 W College Ave. Tallahassee Swing Band 7:30 p.m., American LegionPost 13 at Lake Ella, 229 Lake Ella Drive. $6.TMG 31st Annual “Sing-Along Messiah” Concert:7-9:30 p.m., Faith Presbyterian Church, 200 NorthMeridian Road. $10/Adults; $5 Students. Tickets areavailable at Beethoven and Company, from Guildmembers, or at the door. Presented by TallahasseeMusic Guild.Zumba Classes: 6-7 p.m., The Women’s BellydanceCenter, 1541 South Monroe St. $10.

Wednesday

FMW Audubon Field Trip to St. Marks National Wild-life Refuge: 2 p.m., St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge,Crawfordville. $50 fee for field trip, plus additionalfees for park entrances. Carpooling is encouraged.fmwaudubon.org.Old Porch Swing in the Lab: 6-8 p.m., Birds Aphrodisi-ac Oyster Shack, 325 N Bronough St. The WednesdayNight Lab Session hosted by Jim Crozier featuring OldPorch Swing with David Langston, Dennis Hardin, andMickey Abraham.Tim Russell Acoustic Open Mic Night: 6:30-9:30 p.m.,The Junction at Monroe, 2011 South Monroe St. Openmic acoustic style in the bar from 6:30 to 9:30pm.Hosted and music by Tim “Whiskey Bandit” Russell. Warehouse Wednesdays Open Mic: 8-11:30 p.m., BlueTavern, 1206 N Monroe St.

LOCAL CALENDAR

What’s going on, Tallahassee?

Let us know what’s on your schedule. Use the onlinelink to submit: Eventful.com/Tallahassee. Email Mar-tha Gruender at mgruender@tallahassee.com.

Pollock secures thevenue — which has beenthe Faith PresbyterianChurch for 31 years — andselects the director eachyear. This year’s music di-rector Lisa M. Foltz willconduct the “Sing-AlongMessiah.” Soloists in-clude organists NathanielBrown and Adam Ravain,pianists Joanna Sobkow-ska-Parsons and OliviaAhyoung, trumpeter Lon-gineu Parsons, and sing-ers Alexandra Halchak,Sean Landeta, and EdLyon.

Pollock is excited thatFoltz will have two orga-nists and pianists thisyear as they are the lead-ers for the evening andshe believes they will addnew dimension to theperformance. In additionto Handel, Pollock’s fa-vorite composers areBeethoven and Chopin,though she is equally afan of country greatsJohnny Cash and DollyParton.

“Country music can bejust as spiritual as Han-del’s music,” says Pollock.“It is based on the bible sothat makes it very spe-cial.”

Pollock’s family madetheir own music record-ings growing up. She re-calls hearing her motherand uncle singing folk fa-vorites like “Shrimp BoatsAre A-Coming.” Thoughas a youngster she wouldhave rather played base-ball than practice piano,Pollock loved choir andwas performing along-side adults by age 12.

She credits her ele-mentary school musicprogram in Portland, Ore-gon, for encouraging herlove of vocal music. Sheattended college for ele-mentary education andtaught for a short timebefore joining the AirForce. In Tallahassee, shereturned to teaching atKate Sullivan and Sealeyelementary schools andjoined the TallahasseeCommunity Chorus.

“It’s just fun becausewhen you sit down youmight not know anybody,but before the practice isover you know your

neighbors and you’resinging songs you’ve nev-er sung before,” says Pol-lock. “It’s a very social artform to be in musicalgroups.”

A skilled sight-reader,Pollock compares choirsinging to being an actorthat always holds theirscript in front of them.While vocalists can mem-orize their parts, she pre-fers to hold her musicclose, a number of scoresfilling her choir book. Shecontinues to take part inher local church choir ev-ery Sunday as well.

“In our church choir ifthe congregation reallylikes our singing theyclap,” says Pollock. “Youfeel like you’re on stage all

the time. It’s nice too toknow that they really ap-preciate the songs andwhen you see the joy oneveryone’s face, you cantell they’ve been liftedup.”

As a music event orga-nizer, she feels a similarcamaraderie with her fel-low volunteers, and hasspearheaded everythingfrom fashion show fund-raisers to white elephantsales to benefit musicprograms in the city. Allproceeds from TMG’s“Sing-Along Messiah”provide scholarships toFSU and FAMU musicstudents and for the Tal-lahassee Youth Orches-tras. Pollock says thisyear they will provide 18

scholarships. In addition to purchas-

ing tickets for “Messiah,”attendees are encouragedto rent a $10 music scoreto contribute to this fund.Singing participants aredivided into sectionsbased on soprano, tenor,alto, or baritone, and willbe conducted by Foltz.

A reception follows themain event, where Pol-lock hopes attendees willjoin TMG for drinks, foodand spontaneous Christ-mas caroling around thepiano. This continued fel-lowship gives Pollock agreat sense of fulfillmentas a musician.

“You have a sense ofbelonging and providingsomething for someone’ssoul,” says Pollock. “It canbe very emotional de-pending on your state ofmind while you’re listen-ing. It might remind themof their family, theirmother or father, a happytime or a sad time. Younever know who youmight inspire or help bysinging certain songs.”

Amanda Sieradzki isthe feature writer for theCouncil on Culture &Arts. COCA is the capitalarea’s umbrella agencyfor arts and culture(www.tallahas-seearts.org).

‘Messiah’ Continued from Page 1C

Scholarship winners from the 2018 Sing-AlongMessiah. GINNY DENNSMORE

Doris Pollock, third from left in front row, andsingers at the 2018 Sing-ALong Messiah held at FaithPresbyterian Church. LISA FOLTZ

If you goWhat: Tallahassee Music Guild’s Sing-Along MessiahConcert

When: 7-9:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 3

Where: Faith Presbyterian Church, 2200 N. MeridianRd

Cost: Suggested donation $10 for adults, $5 for chil-dren

Contact: For more information please call 850-893-5274 or visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1327142577440751/.

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