“I can’t, I have rehearsal.”
This is a phrase that I have spoken many times over. While sometimes it is taken as a joke or brushed off, sometimes I am met with the counter-argument, “Well can’t you just skip?” See, I could. But more often than not, chances are I’d rather be at rehearsal than wherever I’m making the excuse not to be.
One thing that every music professional will tell you is that music has the power to take a group of previously separate individuals and unify them. Throughout my many years as a choral singer, I’ve witnessed this firsthand. My first ever chorus rehearsal was in the fifth grade, and the first thing that came to my mind when singing for the first time is how united we sounded. That day introduced me to the power of one. The power of one voice made up of a hundred different sonorities and timbres, all vibrating at the same frequency to create something beautiful. The power of one voice to stick out from all the rest, turning “one more time” into approximately seven thousand more times. The power of one to move an audience to tears, or to bring a smile to the old lady in the back row’s face, or to leave an entire audience of thousands on the edge of their seats listening for the next chord.
Yet another quality that being a part of a choir has taught me is compassion. Knowing when someone else is struggling with that tricky German phrase or that tritone – I know, they’re awful, but done right they sound awesome – and knowing how to help them without seeming abrasive. The desire for the one voice has given me the ability to perceive when others need help, to see it in their eyes or in their posture or in the small cringe when they’re just a little flat. I truly believe that being in choir has made me a better person.
Yet another of the seemingly endless positive externalities that choral singing has brought upon me is better organization and time management skills. How else am I supposed to memorize ten pieces of music, usually in a different language, get all my work done, and still have time for sleep? Hint: it’s still pretty hard I’ve just gotten better at doing so, and have drastically cut down my complaining about it.
If I could go back and change one thing that I have done in my choral career, I would only do one thing: I would have started sooner. My years in choir have shaped me as a person, and have helped me to grow up. They have also shown me that it’s perfectly normal (and in fact, encouraged) to be a little silly. Some of my best memories are from rehearsals: laughing while singing the soprano part at the end of happy birthday or the National Anthem, putting the top layer of our chorus dresses over our heads like nuns backstage during a show, practicing at break for a solo audition and being constantly tempted by the food that you eventually conned a friend into buying.
I have made friends to last a lifetime through my time as a singer. It’s been a wonderful, musical, silly ride that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. It is for these reasons, and for many more that I can’t find the words to describe, why I can’t seem to let my time as a performer pass me by. Nor do I want to. My various directors and fellow singers have made me the person I am today, and I can’t wait to see what the music of tomorrow has in store for us.
