I was fortunate to begin singing at a young age. Over these many years, I’ve been fortunate to be a part of some memorable singing groups.
I was six years old the first time I sang a solo in church. I sang in the teen choir when I was older. I sang in the choir at school. I sang with Sweet 16. I sang with the Expectations. I sang in the choir in college. I sang at Disneyland. I sang with the Seattle Men’s Chorus. I was a Zipper!
At six, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was told I had a good voice, so I sang. Over time I picked up that music in church was used to inspire and tug at emotions. I don’t know exactly what I did to accomplish that, but I was good at it. I remember a woman coming up to me after singing one morning service, tears streaming down her face, she thanked me for touching her with that song.
I don’t remember if we had choirs in elementary or middle school, but I was in the choir in high school. My social life in high school began after I sang a solo for extra credit. I got parts in school musicals with solos. It was one of those solos that showed me I could touch people with my voice other than in an emotional church setting. I auditioned and got into the choir’s small group, Sweet 16, as a junior, or maybe a sophomore. It was a good group then, but was really good when we were seniors. We had a really talented class.
I was a junior when I auditioned into the Expectations, the church district’s high school singing group. What a great experience that was. We really established our reputation that year and were in high demand around the Central Ohio District of the church. We traveled every other weekend and were even invited to Washington D.C. My college roommate, who became one of my best friends, came out of the Impact Team.
Following on those coattails, I was one of the few freshmen accepted into the college choir at Mount Vernon Nazarene College. Yay me.
Once I joined the Nazarene Church in Los Angeles, I’m sure I must have sung in the church choir, but no recollection of that.
After moving to Laguna Beach, CA, I made friends with a couple of piano bar singers and began singing in the bars with them. One of them convinced me to audition to be a Dicken’s Caroler at Disneyland. It was a grueling, daylong audition, but I survived it and sang with them for three years.
After graduating from law school, I moved to Seattle. A friend I’d made before moving there sang with the Seattle Men’s Chorus. Ross got me to audition for the chorus, et voila, I became a chorine. I was selected for solos a number of times. Sort of like high school, getting my first solo and singing in front of the chorus broke the ice and I started making friends. Four or five years into it, the director started a new small group. Naturally, I auditioned for it and became one of the original seven members. We didn’t have a name until after our first performances for the holiday shows. The audiences were asked to submit names for consideration.
When we moved to New Orleans, I got into the gay chorus there, but that was short lived. I did very little singing all the years we lived there.
On our return to Seattle, I got back into SMC. It had changed a lot. A lot of new people. A new director. A new feel. It wasn’t easy trying to fit back in. I made it through the holiday shows, the spring shows, and through the tour to eastern Washington the next summer. I didn’t join them the next fall, but did audition for the new, mixed chorus, Puget Soundworks. I sang with them for a full season before deciding that the late-night ferry rides and work weren’t getting along very well.
Aside from our wedding, I haven’t been singing at all, really. But I still have voices in my head.