Monday, March 17, 2008

C is for Choir


As a young girl and woman I sang in choirs. Church and school choirs, college choruses. I always enjoyed learning the music and being part of something bigger than myself. Hearing each part come together to create the harmonies was a thrilling process for me. I never took voice lessons, thinking instead to use only what voice I was born with. Which has always been definitely alto range, and now threatens to slip into the tenor and bass range as I get older.

After I was married, I sang in Sweet Adelines for about a year. Barbershop harmony for women, It might not be everyone's idea of great music, but it was fun to learn to sing close harmonies. And the women were great. It was the working together towards a goal that made it all the more fun.

But then, we moved, and I had one child and then another, and the time and energy for choral singing disappeared. I was focusing on raising my kids and didn't even realize how much I missed singing.

Then, a few years ago, my husband left, and soon after, my son moved into his own apartment, and then the next year, my daughter left to go to college. And suddenly, I had a great deal of time on my hands. I knew that going home 5 nights a week to two cats and a dark house was not something I would relish for long.

You might think it's odd that a grown woman was at a loss for things to do, but such was the state I had allowed my life to fall into. Especially during the hectic years of raising two teenagers, one of whom was a pretty serious dancer and required lots of taxi service. Anyway, the thought of having my weekday evenings free was an exciting and kind of daunting one.

I started thinking about things that I would like to do that I hadn't had the time for before, and choir singing came to mind. I didn't want a church choir, although those are lovely, and I didn't want a very formal choir either, as I'm not an exceedingly formal singer. I went online and started searching for local choral groups. Ones that were not too fussy about who they let sing with them, but who worked at their music.

Surprisingly, there were several options. And in the fall of 2006, I joined the Newton Singers. I was very nervous at first, as I had not done any singing (other than in the shower or the car) for about 10 years, and before that, it was intermittent at best. But the conductor and the other choir members welcomed me and put me at ease very quickly.

Joining this choir has been a wonderful thing for me. I had forgotten just how much I loved to sing. Hard to believe that one can forget something so enjoyable, but for years I focused on everyone but myself. Choir is something I do just for me. And the reward has been great. We sing Broadway show tunes, mostly, although this year a couple of Beatles songs made it into the roster. And we work hard! But mostly, we have a good time. Our conductor works very hard with us, and encourages us to become better singers, and we do!

We have one performance, in May or June, and the audience is made up of family, but it is such a rush to perform. Last year, my daughter came and sat through the entire concert, bless her, and I felt so good to have her there. I'm not certain she really LIKED the music, but she was really sweet to me about the performance.

I find, that after practice, I'm energized and positive and uplifted. Now, why did it take me so long to find something that would do that for me?

1 Comments:

At 11:38 AM, Blogger Iron Needles said...

Brava, Mary, Brava!
First, if I could sing, really sing on key, I would sing all the time. Everything I say I would sing! Well, maybe not...but I really wish I could stay on key better than I do.

Second, good for you for finding that something in you, to do for you, that's just about you.

You go!
Becky

 

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