The old saying goes: “Some observe, others participate.” Whatever your category, you are needed for the upcoming Moapa Valley Messiah Sing on Sunday, December 18 at 7 p.m. at the Old Logandale School.

To observe, and in this case, listen, one need only show up. Attendance is free and open to the public.

To participate, besides showing up for the event, some enjoyable preparation time is also available. Even if you have sung the Messiah more than once, you will appreciate the camaraderie and fun of rehearsing with the all-volunteer singers led by director Gaye Nelson.

Choral rehearsal times will be Thursdays, Dec. 8 and 15 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 17 at 9 a.m., all at the Old School. Participants are welcome to come to one or all of these.

If you would like to participate as an instrumentalist, please call director Gaye Nelson at 398-3503 to find out what openings are available and the orchestra’s rehearsal schedule. The orchestra has already had several rehearsals. They will be backed up by both piano and harpsichord.

The tradition of a Messiah Sing in the Moapa Valley goes back some 60 years. The mainstay of the Messiah Sing, has been piano accompanist, Connie Whitney. Still actively teaching and performing regularly even as an octogenarian, Whitney is a living musical legend in the valley, having taught piano to several generations of Moapa Valley children, and contributed her impeccable accompanying on a multitude of occasions. This Messiah Sing will in fact be something of a family affair, in that the director, Gaye Nelson, also happens to be Mrs. Whitney’s daughter, and several others of Mrs. Whitney’s children and grandchildren will be actively participating.

So come and join with your friends and neighbors in an evening of inspirational Christmas music that is several hundred years old but still fresh, meaningful, and – in this case – “home-made.”