For me it was a voyage of discovery not just in the musical sense, but in terms of learning about that much-used term, team-building, and about personal understanding. I would certainly recommend it to managers of all sorts.

From a musical point of view, this work is so great that it restores faith in humanity and the universe. In the past, when many more people were illiterate, they had to look to painting, music and architecture to perceive their God.

In the year 1741, George Frederick Handel sat in his room in Hanover Square, London writing like a demon. His servant brought food but the master didn’t touch it. He barely left his desk and completed the oratorio in a mere 23 days. Less than a month!

When he finished writing the Hallelujah Chorus, he was overcome by tears. "I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the Great Lord Himself," he said.

If you’ve heard it, or, even better sung it, you’ll know what he meant. It was performed first in Dublin because the English clergy rejected it. They were aghast at the "sacrilege of converting the Life and Passion of Christ into a theatrical entertainment."

Eventually, however, it became an institution. 

Handel – a German who emigrated to England – was a devout and generous man who left the enormous sum of £1000 in his will for the Society for the Support of Decayed Musicians and their Families.

I do like that word "decayed." We’ve all seen decayed musicians here, their teeth brown and rotting because they can’t make enough money to see a dentist.

The whole event raised many interesting questions like: what is the real thing Ð the rehearsal or the final performance? The rehearsals are when the real work gets done, learning the music, the cues, the meaning of the words and how to articulate them.

Is the performance the final, finished product, or just work in progress? When is a performance considered to be finished Ð when there is nothing to add, when it is perfect? No, because there is no such thing as perfection. If there were, the product would be a dead thing ready for a museum.

In rehearsal, you prepare yourself so that you are free to do your best for the performance. As a member of a choir, you also face certain moral decisions: will it matter if you skip rehearsal tonight, for example. Who will notice one person missing?

But a choir is merely the sum of its parts, and its strength is as great as its weakest link. Even if no one notices, you will have missed something important for yourself. This is just as true, of course, for actors, members of orchestras, or dancers. You have made a decision to be part of something, so the level of your commitment will say something about your own strength of character and the value you place on others who are engaged in the same enterprise.

A cog in a wheel is important; if all of them took it into their coggish heads to disappear, the wheel wouldn’t move. As an individual in such a large group, you must learn your part and listen carefully to the conductor and the accompanists. 

Do you talk when it isn’t your turn? Maddeningly, quite a few people do, which is selfish and disruptive because it destroys everyone’s concentration which is the key to it all.

Music deserves as much, if not more attention as the word. Chatter can wait. Students who must have their walkmans on while they’re studying are either not really listening or not concentrating on their work. You can’t do both together properly.

Each time you hear The Messiah, you will find new things because it is inexhaustible. The way the notes combine with the words, for example. Handel has different parts of the choir singing different things at the same time, like "Hallelujah and Forever." Why?

The sounds of the words themselves make for harmony and add to one another, as do the noises made by various sections of the choir Ð tenors, sopranos, altos, and basses.

Handel turned to Isaiah and the Psalms rather than the New Testament, and in his composition, the words resonate with meaning. Who can ever forget "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible?"

The bass singer of this aria has, together with the trumpet player, an unfair advantage – he can’t help but bring the house down. Dan Massa received a well-deserved ovation on this occasion.

In a choir, you are in some ways taking a back-seat; unlike the soloists, you cannot shine on your own. But all the soloists performing on that day were also members of the various choirs. Some like Duncan Wambugu and Gacigi Kung’u proved that they had multiple talents - as singers, instrumentalists and choir directors.

Musical talent will often seek diverse forms of expression like this. Such practice helps us in other parts of our lives because all of us have varying roles to play, sometimes requiring us to stand back and let others shine. We have to be sons daughters and parents which require different skills and abilities, but all demanding of us that we listen. 

The most taxing role of all is that of the conductor - in this case Tony Davies who is well-known in Nairobi as pianist and conductor. It is his interpretation which gives life to the music, his encouragement which brings out the best in the performers. His is the glue that sticks the whole thing together.

The motto of the Hospice movement is "put life into their days, not days into their life." You are reminded of your own mortality and the dying of those around you. Donating to the Hospice movement makes you consider that one day, the need for palliative care may be yours. 

On October 4, choirs from more than 40 countries gathered together all over the world to sing for the healing of the sick. In the process, they provided great healing for themselves, each other and the terminally ill.

E-mailcaplanbetty@hotmail.com 

Ms Caplan is an author and freelance journalist

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