Life is a choral performance. But some of us don’t look at the conductor. Nope. Not even at the sheet music provided us. We don’t even listen to the accompanying musicians nor to our choirmates. We act as if we’re singing solo.
And to a certain extent, yes, we ARE singing solo. No one can sing for you. You are responsible to study your part of the music. You must open your own mouth and work your own vocal cords to hit the right notes. You must follow the notes written in your sheet music and use your eyes to watch the conductor’s cues. You are responsible for your own role.
But, you are not really singing solo. You are part of a section. Last May, I was blessed to be part of a choral performance. I was part of the alto section and was therefore singing with a handful of girls and women. We were part of the choir, my section singing with the soprano, tenor, and bass sections. Altogether, we were a choir; singing as part of a musical number, making music with the occasional soloist and with the instrumentalists. Life is singing with a group. Life is singing AS a group. Choristers have to be in tune, not only to the music, but with each others’ vibes. You must feel and wait out your turn to snatch a breath during a long extended note, so as not to cut the note by all inhaling at the same time as your section mates. You must listen to your section mates to be guided when you are going out of tune, and you must be ready to sing well and in tune to help out a section mate who might need to listen to you to get her back to the right tone. You must listen to your fellow choristers from the other sections, and to the instrumentalists. Sometimes, the guide or cue for your next note will not be coming from your own section’s music, but from them. To completely ignore them and to be focused solely on your own singing would be disastrous.
For the particular performance I was part of, last May, the rehearsals I attended usually involved just some of the sopranos and/or altos. Due to logistic reasons, we were unable to rehearse as a full choir except for a precious handful of times. When we would practice, – a couple of altos plus a couple of sopranos – we would sometimes cringe. At times, the sound seemed discordant. Other times, we fought to keep awake and to keep our place on the sheet music since some bits of our singing parts were particularly monotonous. But once we first met and sang together as a full choir, we finally understood. The monotony and seeming discord disappeared. I was able to sing more robustly and cheerfully, because everything finally clicked for me. I understood where some previously seemingly stray notes fit into the full music. And later on, driving home together, we (the handful of altos and sopranos who usually rehearsed together alone) chattered excitedly on how that couple of hours of rehearsing as a full choir served to really boost our excitement and confidence in the music, in the choral performance we were preparing for.
Life is making music. Singing individually, but not solo. Reading the sheet music, keenly watching and following the conductor, listening to the accompanying instrumentalists, and listening to your choirmates, even as you lend them your small voice.