It has been my custom in the days leading up to Christmas to take time and listen to a full recording of Handel’s “Messiah,” something I did this week. The opening took me back to the year when a friend and I ventured to Pittsburgh to join members of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Symphony to sing the Christmas portion of the oratorio.

There were sopranos and altos and tenors and basses, people with different kinds of voices. We were there not to perform for an audience, but rather to make music together, and what an experience it was to join with hundreds and make music. What kind of music are we making today?

The cacophony of liberals, conservatives, independents and others grinds in my ears. The sound is harsh like a group of untrained singers when singing something for the first time.

It takes training and practice to make music. It will take training and practice, too, for those of us who live in this fragile democracy to make this democracy work for the benefit of all of us.

President-elect Joe Biden has said he will be the president of all of us. Just as members of a mighty chorus look to the director, let’s train and practice to make music together under the Biden baton.

Carole A. Briggs

Brookville

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