A very happy soprano

I did something today that I've been wanting to do for YEARS. I joined a choir!

I joined my first choir at the age of three. I come from an extremely musical family, so this wasn't a huge surprise. I sang in church choir from the age of three all the way through high school. I was in school choirs every possible chance. I sang in community choirs as a child, took voice lessons, performed in ensembles and did solos at the local and state level contests, was in all-district choir all four years of high school and was in all-state choir my senior year. I was in our school's musicals for two years of high school with pretty prominent parts, and then sang in three different ensembles in college, where I was also a music minor.

This is all to say that music has always been a huge part of my life. That is until I graduated from college. Then I went to grad school where I was kept busier than I knew possible and did not audition for any groups. Then I moved to Philadelphia. When Nick moved here, we started talking about the possibility of auditioning for a few different groups (he's a singer too). We were all talk though. We never made it happen.

It's been five years since I sang regularly. I've sung in a few friends' weddings since then, but that is really the extent of my post-college singing experience. It was such a huge part of my life, a part I cherished and that made me come alive, that I allowed to die off a bit. Needless to say, I missed it desperately. I get extremely nervous for auditions and am really not much of a soloist, and I let that stand in the way for too long.

I decided to try to overcome that. I had been thinking about it for a while, mulling it over, and had done some research online. I found a church choir that sounded appealing. I started going to that church to see how I liked it. I liked it. Here's a view of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill:

I mustered the nerve yesterday to email their music director and got a quick response. We arranged to meet today after the morning service, I had an informal audition and was welcomed on board! I cannot adequately express how excited I am by this. It's like rediscovering a part of myself that I had let fall into disuse. A part that I really liked, that was necessary for my survival. It still shocks me how I abandoned it so readily.

Our first rehearsal of the year is next week and I'm thrilled to be a part of the group. I can't wait to meet new people and to retrain my out of shape vocal chords. I'm excited to be an official part of a community, something we lack a bit here in Philly, and I'm thrilled to learn and experience new music. Singing is like an extension of my soul. I think I'll be a bit more alive now.