You hear so often about athletes hanging up their cleats and retiring their jerseys, but you never hear about the musicians that turn in their choir robes and closed the pages of their sheet music for the last time.
I myself was a choral student for 10 years and I absolutely loved every minute of it. I started in third grade and I know what you’re thinking: “Really? Was anything really serious in third grade?” Well, yes. We had an elementary school choir and I remember singing Christmas songs in front of the whole school. I was the new kid at school in third grade and during that concert, I got picked up and spun around by the gym teacher who was dressed up as Mr. Claus. I was called Mrs. Claus until well into fourth grade, but that’s beside the point.
After elementary, I joined middle school choir, however; it’s high school choir that holds such a special place in my heart. My conductor is one of my favorite people (and if you’re reading this, thank you for an incredible four years). I was in Concert Choir for one year, then Chamber Choir for three years. There are so many things that I can remember from high school choir that it still makes me tear up a bit when I think about my senior concert (the picture at the beginning of the article was taken right after I had sobbed for about an hour straight during that concert).
The hard part about being someone who isn’t a part of any musical group now is simply that I miss it. When I’m at school, I don’t have access to a musical group, so I miss it. I am still in contact with people in the high school choir now and I love when I see videos of their performances come up on my Facebook feed. Some of the performances from when I was in the choir are on YouTube and I watch those whenever I’m feeling nostalgic. Also, many of my friends that did continue their musical endeavors into college look like they’re having a blast and I couldn’t be happier (or more jealous).
I miss being able to walk into the chorus room, sit down in my section, and get ready for warm-ups. As a soprano, warm-ups were always my favorite part of class. They were something that I could throw myself into and just feel completely comfortable doing.
I also miss getting really, REALLY excited about a new piece. My favorite types of pieces were usually written in Latin and had incredible harmonies. Most of our songs were done acapella, so I miss putting in the extra effort to perfect every vowel sound and hit every high note, as there was no piano to cover our mistake.
I miss rehearsals. Our rehearsals were two and a half hours every Thursday, and it was nothing but work during that. During those rehearsals, I felt every emotion, from happiness, to sadness, to frustration, and to devotion. I made so many memories during these times and they will not be forgotten
I miss music trips. We called it the Band Trip. We would choose a location to go to and sing a selection of pieces in a competition against tons of other school from all over. We usually placed really well and I loved sitting in the award ceremony hearing our school name called for Superior awards.
I even miss our concert attire. For Chamber Choir, we were given matching black dresses and jackets and the guys were supposed to rent tuxedos and bowties. It was a pretty classy look. However, Concert Choir wore these large robes that I think were used for graduation in the 80’s (they’ve got HUGE shoulder pads). Yeah, the ones that are in the picture above this paragraph? That's my choir with the robes. They were green and white to match our school colors and they made you SO SWEATY.
While I miss being a part of something as beautiful as a music program, I understand that some things must come to an end. That doesn’t mean I can’t ever sing again, it just means that it’ll happen again at a different time in life. You can take the girl out of the choir, but you can’t take the choir out of the girl.
