going into high school, i told my mother that i wanted to join the school's 9th grade choir. she told me (although she brought up several times after, that she never said this) that i couldn't sing. i never felt angry at my mother for saying this - when you have a son that is so incredibly shy that everyone worries about him, the thought of him standing in front of an audience, singing, doesn't sound too good.
i joined the choir, and i did well. in my second year, and for the rest of of high school, i was in the school's top choir, which was pretty highly regarded in maryland in the early 1990s. i got solos, was told by choir judges that i was a very good soloist; had the most embarrassing moment of my life when my voice cracked in the middle of the 'beauty and the beast' duet. to this day i feel that my duet partner held it against me for the rest of her high school career, because it made us both look a little bad.
someone in high school once said that the reason i never talked (and i really never talked) was because i was saving my voice to sing. i was in 3 musicals, and if you ask people from my high school what thing they would most associate me with, i would guess that most would say singing, if they remember me at all.
i probably would have minored in vocal performance, if i went to a smaller school. but i didn't. i went to a university that had a fairly good music reputation, and i ended up singing in the low-level choir at michigan state. even in that choir, there were guys who sounded (and looked) like opera singers. my singing career ended when i left college, and i haven't been in a choir since.
in an effort to get to know people in edinburgh, my office mate suggested rock choir. a choir that doesn't have very high expectations for its participants (no audition and you don't need to know how to read music). i thought it would be fun because i would not feel like i was competing with the person next to me, and rock/pop music is more fun to sing. never having sung in any kind of pop choir, that appealed to me, because i wanted to sing stuff i would actually want to listen to. i was hoping that by joining a choir, i would meet people who were different from most of the people i interact with at work; people from another side of life, i guess. i'm not really sure what i had in mind, just something different.
i signed up for a taster session and made my way there. we were going to be doing one song that night, 'both sides now', by joni mitchell. i thought this was an ironic song choice. i wanted to see a side different from the people i worked with. also, thing song always reminds me of my childhood because my dad had a judy collins version of the song that i heard many times as a boy. music from my childhood always reminds me of my mother, the woman who said i couldn't sing, but was also the person most proud of me when i did.
i sang with the choir, sitting behind some people who were so into it that they has sweatshirts that said 'www.rockchior.com'.
i decided not to go back.
it turns out that both sides were the same side - when i walked into the room after signing in, after committing to be there for the next hour and a half, i scanned the room, and scanned it again, not believing my eyes. there were about 50 members of this choir, and all of them were very similar to the people i interact with at work every day - they were all women, every single one of them. so i sat there, sang 'both sides now' as the sole male voice in the choir, the only one from that side of the gender divide, and decided that rock choir is not the choir for me.
i joined the choir, and i did well. in my second year, and for the rest of of high school, i was in the school's top choir, which was pretty highly regarded in maryland in the early 1990s. i got solos, was told by choir judges that i was a very good soloist; had the most embarrassing moment of my life when my voice cracked in the middle of the 'beauty and the beast' duet. to this day i feel that my duet partner held it against me for the rest of her high school career, because it made us both look a little bad.
someone in high school once said that the reason i never talked (and i really never talked) was because i was saving my voice to sing. i was in 3 musicals, and if you ask people from my high school what thing they would most associate me with, i would guess that most would say singing, if they remember me at all.
i probably would have minored in vocal performance, if i went to a smaller school. but i didn't. i went to a university that had a fairly good music reputation, and i ended up singing in the low-level choir at michigan state. even in that choir, there were guys who sounded (and looked) like opera singers. my singing career ended when i left college, and i haven't been in a choir since.
in an effort to get to know people in edinburgh, my office mate suggested rock choir. a choir that doesn't have very high expectations for its participants (no audition and you don't need to know how to read music). i thought it would be fun because i would not feel like i was competing with the person next to me, and rock/pop music is more fun to sing. never having sung in any kind of pop choir, that appealed to me, because i wanted to sing stuff i would actually want to listen to. i was hoping that by joining a choir, i would meet people who were different from most of the people i interact with at work; people from another side of life, i guess. i'm not really sure what i had in mind, just something different.
i signed up for a taster session and made my way there. we were going to be doing one song that night, 'both sides now', by joni mitchell. i thought this was an ironic song choice. i wanted to see a side different from the people i worked with. also, thing song always reminds me of my childhood because my dad had a judy collins version of the song that i heard many times as a boy. music from my childhood always reminds me of my mother, the woman who said i couldn't sing, but was also the person most proud of me when i did.
i sang with the choir, sitting behind some people who were so into it that they has sweatshirts that said 'www.rockchior.com'.
i decided not to go back.
it turns out that both sides were the same side - when i walked into the room after signing in, after committing to be there for the next hour and a half, i scanned the room, and scanned it again, not believing my eyes. there were about 50 members of this choir, and all of them were very similar to the people i interact with at work every day - they were all women, every single one of them. so i sat there, sang 'both sides now' as the sole male voice in the choir, the only one from that side of the gender divide, and decided that rock choir is not the choir for me.
