I've had a couple of musical experiences recently that have really heightened my desire to join a choir, which is one of my 101 goals.
On December 16, Margo and I went to see the Northwest Boychoir perform at a church in West Seattle. It was unbelievable. Words cannot really express what a powerful experience ti was for me. I even cried a little bit. One of the coolest things about their annual Christmas season show (A Festival of Lessons & Carols) is that the audience has multiple opportunities to sing during the performance. This was particularly glorious because we were singing with the amazing choir AND we were singing in a church with fantastic acoustics.
Watching that choir perform, and being able to sing with them intermittently during their performance, really heightened my awareness of how much I am missing singing in my life. I was in choir from 4th grade to 12th grade(edited from the previously incorrect 4th grade to 12th grade), and my family also led church music on a regular basis all through my high school years. I also helped my friend Jenny lead the music at her church's vacation bible school every summer. I didn't join choir in college because it was too many days per week and I really did not like the choir director. It's been years since I was singing with any regularity, and I miss it so very, very much.
The other experience this month that also contributed to my awareness of this hole in my life was singing at my mom's church for Christmas Eve mass. My mom goes to the most amazing Catholic church in Spokane. If that church were here, I would be there every week, in spite of all of my issues with the Catholic church and my own spiritual uncertainty. My mother and my younger brother and my sisters and my sister-in-law and I worked on a three-part version of O Holy Night that we sang together at church prior to the start of Mass. In addition, the church choir director was gracious enough to allow me to attend rehearsal before mass and sing with the church choir for Christmas Eve mass. It was really wonderful to be singing and to be a part of that.
This all adds up to my realization that not singing regularly has been a neglect, an abandonment, of an important part of myself. In many ways, I think I have been able to access my spiritual side most easily through music. Regardless of what I do or do not believe, singing connects me to something greater than myself, and provides me with a kind of joy that nothing else can quite replace.
So the hunt for a choir to join is on. One of the challenges is that there are just so many community choirs in Seattle. I'm also intimidated by having to audition, after being out of practice for so long. Fortunately, singing for Christmas Eve mass helped to remind me that I am still capable of sight reading and picking up a part pretty quickly. After having just sung for church or school before, I have also been surprised by the costs associated with joining a community choir. I will be sure to keep you all posted, however.
Hope you all had a happy holiday season and are anticipating a joyous new year.
