6 | Singing Her Way To Graduation

Singers in a choir. Photo: UBC School of Music

6 | After the incident with the scary man following her, the little girl became more cautious while walking anywhere with anyone at all times.

With sixth grade came along tryouts to be in the chorus. The little girl knew she could sing. She knew because of her secret career, which consisted of singing in the shower. Since she knew she could sing, and she knew she could sing high notes without much trouble, she decided to try out for a spot within the soprano section.

In the auditorium, while waiting to try out, sitting with her friends, she had told them she was going for soprano. One of them said that she wouldn’t be able to sing soprano. Why? Because apparently her speaking voice is too low (which it isn’t, really). So, the little girl's turn came along. The chorus teacher had her sing some notes from a few songs, testing the heights of her pitch (which was in key), and the little girl became a soprano in the school’s chorus. Not only was she very happy, in general, because she proved herself right, but she she also proved her ”friend“ wrong, that her speaking voice is NOT too low to be able to sing higher notes.

The little girl was so happy she was in chorus. She loved to sing. She wasn’t sure she would ever have the courage to do this, but one of her dreams was to be a singer in a band. She knew she could sing, but she also knew that her potential lack of courage might hold her back from singing in a band.

Since she actually did not wind up becoming the singer in a band, she did, however, remain in chorus classes all the way from the sixth grade to her senior year at her state university. One highlight of her school singing ”career“ came along in high school. She really loved her chorus teacher during those years. She had a feeling the lead-singer-in-a-band-dream wasn’t going to happen, so she actually wanted to sing a solo during a performance the chorus was to give at a retirement home in a few weeks. She spoke to her chorus teacher about it, and he was in agreement and very proud of her, because he knew how shy and introverted she is usually. So, she chose a nice slow song that she liked, and she and her teacher took some days each week to practice. Then, when it was showtime, at the retirement home, when she sang, she was very nervous, but, at the end, very happy that she did it. And, everyone was clapping and saying it was very good. That gave her a boost of courage, for sure.

And, all the way to today, she still remembers the feelings of being so nervous (at first) and then how proud she was of herself when she got all the clapping and compliments at the end of the song. It’s been many years since that day, and she still remembers all the words to the song she sang.