Making Tracks

By Kat Bryant

I took another big step in personal growth last week.

Really big. One might even say yuge.

For decades, I’ve been telling people I had a five-octave voice range in high school; but, since I haven’t practiced since then (except in my car) (with the windows up), those days were long gone.

What I rarely bother to mention is that I quit because I get severe stage fright. I’ve always had trouble speaking to groups of people I don’t know, so imagine how difficult it would be to relax my vocal cords enough to sing in front of them.

As long as I was part of my school choir, I could blend in and not worry about it. I even managed to earn a couple of district awards with solo and trio performances (in front of a single judge) (in an otherwise empty room) (with my eyes closed).

But when I tried to continue my training with a voice course during my freshman year of college, I couldn’t handle singing solo in front of the class. My instructor knew it was more than vibrato he heard as I performed my midterm; I was shaking from head to toe. By the time I finished my piece, I was crying in frustration. So embarrassing.

So that was that, as far as I was concerned. No way I was ever going to be a solo performer. And since I’m not a church-goer, I’ve had no venue for joining a choir to stay in practice.

Until now.

Last Tuesday evening, I swallowed my fear and tried out for the Grays Harbor Civic Choir. Actually, “tried out” isn’t the right term; no auditions are required for this community group. What I did was attend a rehearsal to find out whether any vestiges remained of the voice I once had — and whether I could use it in front of other people.

Director Kari Hasbrouck and the choir members accepted me with open arms, and I dove right in. Turns out, I’ve still got it. Well, some of it. I sang with the first sopranos 35 years ago; now, I’m more comfortable as an alto because it’s hard for me to hit those high notes. Maybe that will change as I get back into practice; we’ll see.

Kari handed me a stack of music ranging from an old spiritual to the Magnificat, and we went through each of them at least once during the two-hour rehearsal. I was able to follow the words and note lengths in the music books, but I’ve never been a good sight-reader when it comes to the actual tones; so I mostly took cues from my fellow altos to sing my parts.

Some of the pieces will be fairly simple for me to learn; others are going to take awhile. And I’m really looking forward to it.

Still, we’ll see how I do when it comes time for the next public concert. (Gulp.)

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P.S.: I’ll bet I’m not the only one around here who loves to sing. If anyone else is interested in joining the choir, rehearsals are every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the music building at Grays Harbor College. You can find more info at www.facebook.com/GraysHarborCivicChoir.

Kat Bryant is lifestyle editor of The Daily World. If she gets through her first choir concert without fainting, she’ll consider it a victory. Reach her at kbryant@thedailyworld.com or on Facebook at Kat Bryant-DailyWorld.