The Singing Christmas Trees 2008

For over a quarter century, the Singing Christmas Trees blessed the Worship Center of First Baptist Orlando. Since 1980, this magnificent production was the result of a vision by former Pastor Jim Henry while they were still at their downtown Orlando location. After a three year hiatus, the "Trees" are back as Sr. Pastor David Uth carries this vision. One of the most popular Christmas events in the area, the program has attracted an audience from all fifty states and several countries.

Henry confronted Ragan Vandegriff, the Minister of Music, in 1978 recalling that it would take "a step faith" to launch this project. Henry said he wanted a "signature event with the priceless treasure and message of Jesus Christ."

The first production of the Singing Trees debuted in 1980 at First Baptist Orlando's downtown location, opening with "Do You Hear What I Hear," directed by Vandegriff.

While the first five years featured a single tree, the church moved to its current campus on John Young Parkway in 1985 and they realized that it would be necessary to further expand the production to accommodate the larger stage. "One tree would have appeared "diminuendo," according to Vandegriff. The task of writing music for two trees began. This often involved having "one tree call and the other one answer," according to Deric Johnson, the music arranger at the time.

The two forty-five foot structures each hold about 150 choir members. The trees are
designed and structurally engineered by Walt Keller. "You can put a Mack truck on each tree and it would withstand the weight," Keller explained. And that's about what each tree holds. Considering the average American weight, both trees combined contain almost 50,000 pounds of these live, vocalized ornaments.

While the church staff had already selected the songs, written and arranged the music and made most of the final preparations, the initial start of the program kicked off with "Christmas in September." During this evening event, volunteers registered for choir, orchestra, drama, youth, technical aids and "tree rats." In all, close to one thousand people donate their time to the massive production.

The entire program consists of church members, under the direction of the church staff, that volunteer their time and talent to bring to the audience this celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Doctors, secretaries, sales persons, office clerks, lawyers, homemakers, warehouse workers and students all come together to lend their individual talents.

The trees were erected in November by weekday volunteers and staff members. After the structures are set in place, pre-wired panels containing the 250,000 lights are secured and the miles of wires and cables are connected to computers that synchronize the brilliant display to the music. Each tree contains about 60 panels and they all must be indepenently tested after they are attached to the tree structure. This is performed by plugging each color of each panel into a power source and checking every bulb. If an individual bulb is burned out, it can be replaced, however, there are times when an entire string of lights need to be restrung. It is these meticulous efforts that help to create this specatacular event.

The choir, under the direction of Jon Marks, Worship Coordination and Events Pastor, met every Sunday afternoon and Wednesday evening to learn and practice the songs. Many members of the choir are able to read music, while others cannot. This means the members that cannot "read notes" must pay careful attention to Marks and to those around them. At the onset of the practices, the choir room was set up into designated areas where the altos, basses, baritones, sopranos and tenors would sit according to their voice range.

On designated Sunday afternoon practices, the various vocal ranges would initially meet in separate rooms, then they would all gather back in the main choir room to bring it all together with the full choral effect. Marks will frequently interrupt and clearly state the enunciation he wants, asking the choir to recite the spoken words, then repeating the words in song.

"This is not a presentation," Marks said, "this is an offering of joy and praise before Him."

Jon Territo, Instrumental Music Pastor, leads the 70 piece orchestra. Some of these musicians are professionals, including Doug Matthews of Sam River's Rivbea Orchestra, and others taking time off from Walt Disney World and other local attractions.

"The first time I ever saw the Siinging Trees program was in 1989, and I was blown away by the beauty of the music and the massive sound of the choir," Lori Jean Smith, a local concert violinist and recording artist said. Smith was asked to participate with the orchestra this year and performs the sensitive violin solo on "O Holy Night." "It is still the most beautiful Christmas program I have ever seen, and I have been a part of many. This year, it is my honor and privilege to be a part of the program that I have held in such high esteem for the last nearly 20 years."

"Tree Rats" play a very important role in the program. Primarily young and gymnastically-energized, these "rats" crawl through the maze of pipes and platforms to help make the choir feel comfortable and safe. They will tap on a choir member's foot and massage their legs if they want this done to keep blood circulating during the 90 minute performance. Along with a tag pasted on the member's ankle that indicates the position number and name, they may also choose to tape a tasty piece of candy for the tree rat in appreciation. One year, however, a choir member taped a bag of M&Ms to her leg and when the rat opened the bag, the candy pieces dropped several rows bouncing and pinging off the pipes on the descent. That form of reward was subsequently banned.

The tree "rats" also move the wooden boxes into place before each choir member assumes his or her position. These boxes are custom made and allow the appearance of a more uniform height for each member. For example, if a member is five-foot three, the box would be nine inches tall making the appeared height as six feet.

The trees are loaded from a series or ramps and ladders that cannot be seen by the audience. Some choir members take their positions from the ground level while those in the higher section load from the second level behind the trees. This process is engineered to keep the weight properly distributed filling the lower levels first. The final position, the "star" of the tree, is the last one to assume her post hovering forty-five feet over the Worship Center stage.

The 2008 performance follows a different format than the previous years. The program opens with the children, students, drama and dance segments including the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, a "stomp" version of The Little Drummer Boy. The program also draws audience participation , inviting those in attendance to join the choir singing "Adore Hymn" and "O Come Let Us Adore Him."

"When I was twelve, my mother took took our family to see the 'The Singing Christmas Trees,'" Aradhana Tiwari, creative arts director of the presentation said." I began to beg my mother to go to the 'Christmas Tree Church' and after about a year and a half, she took the family to a Wednesday night youth group." Tiwari joined the youth choir and shortly thereafter, became a member of the church. Her fascination of the "trees" developed into her involvement in "almost every capacity" of the program. For her contributions to the program, Tiwari feels "humbled and honored to be blessed with the opportunity to sow back into this beautiful tradition that has quite literally changed me and my family's life."

"Through the program, we've had a lot of people pray to receive Christ," Vandegriff explained. "We did not want to play on emotionalism. We always led up to the pastor being able to give an invitation to say 'Hey, this what Christmas is all about - the Son of Man becoming the Son of God so that some of men might become sons of God.'"

For ticket information, visit the Singing Trees website or call 1-888-476-3111. There are six performances this year including December 5, 6 and 7 and December 12, 13, and 14.