High school was a hard time for me, as it is for many kids. I struggled with school, hated my classes, had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated, and no matter how hard I tried, it never seemed like it was going to get any better. It felt never ending...Recently I was reminded of a huge reason why I made it through that time of my life.The reason was music. To this day, I still believe that the only thing that got me through every day of school up through graduation was spending an hour in chorus rehearsal every day.
I was reminded of this because my old high school is about to be torn down over the Christmas break and the kids will be moving into a bigger, newly built school in January. The high school band and chorus recently performed one last concert on the 80-year-old stage, and all chorus alumni were invited to take part in this event. I and many fellow alumni showed up to sing the very last song that will ever be performed on the stage that I spent my high school career singing on. The alumni have been invited back to sing with the chorus in other concerts before, but this one was special. This was our last chance to sing on this stage.
We all arrived early for rehearsal, and it was a strange feeling at first, being back in that building with so many of us together again. It had been such a long time since I had seen so many old friends that I made in the chorus but when we got back together it felt completely normal. Many of us did not even need sheet music during rehearsal because we remembered the song so well. It became a tradition to invite alumni back on stage and sing "Honor and Glory" every year. One run through of it, and it was like we never left.
As we awaited the beginning of the concert, we began taking ourselves on one last tour of the high school. We remembered where all of our old classes are, I found my old locker from my senior year, we looked at the same artwork that has been on the same walls for years, but the only good memories I actually remembered were the times I spent singing in the chorus. Sometimes, it was the only thing that motivated me to get out of bed in the morning to go to school. When nothing else felt like it was going right, music was there. If I hadn't had just that one hour of chorus during the day, I am not sure what I would have done. I strongly believe that I would not be the person that I am today if it was not for my time singing in the chorus. Music has helped me and saved me.
Soon, everyone will get to experience a much bigger school with a much bigger stage for more amazing concerts, but I will always remember that stage that I sang on with my former classmates. I remember the songs that we sang together, countless memories, and just how thankful I am for my amazing music teachers who helped to make music such a strong impact on my life.
