La la la!

Well folks, I can now say I have successfully completed a quarter at COLLEGE!!!

Wait! Before you get all like, woah, Leanne actually went to college??? let me elaborate.

My husband has been a member of our local community choir through our local college since early spring, and he's been begging me to join with him, and I've refused, for one lame reason after another, for months, and okay, I finally joined up in early April!

Was I nervous?? You bet! I had all these preconceived notions that there'd be all these super stellar singers there and I'd be the only raw, unused talent there......

And I was WRONG!

There was an ecclectic mixture of ability levels there, since admittance to the choir at our college is not by audition.  Anyone who wants to can join....with mixed results....

So we had our concert to cap off the quarter last night.  The concert was a combined effort, with the jazz choir, the concert choir, the community choir, and another small choir.  And you can join more than one choir, although it's a pretty grueling schedule if you do.

The community choir sang selections from Show Boat, Carousel, Frankie and Johnny, and Irving Berlin, as well as a couple of single pieces.  The ensemble from Irving Berlin was perfomed with all of the choirs combined.  We also did "Somebody To Love" from Glee as a combined experiment.

One of the fun things about the whole experience was that individuals could audition for solos, and Husband told me we were going to audition.  So, I dusted off my vocal pipes and gave it the old College try.....

We sang "Never Walk Alone" from Carousel, and I convinced the choir director that there ought to be a solo in there, just because I had been dying to do that piece for about 1000 years, so she agreed, and I tried out for it, but both she and Husband, as well as the piano player, told me that me singing that piece was like listening to a flute that was not being played to the best of its ability, which was a really great compliment!

Husband and I tried out for "Why Do I Love You?" from Show Boat, and we got it!!! So, Husband and I did a tiny duet last night.....to rave reviews! I think the novelty of seeing a husband/wife team doing something like that just impressed people! It was so so so much fun singing with him!

The concert turned out so much better than we thought it would! And, as a bonus for the whole audience, there was a suprise marriage proposal too!! It was so sweet and romantic!!! We were all freaking out and screaming and clapping....the young man who proposed told NOBODY he was going to do it, so even the director was totally surprised.  And the gal said yes!!!

It was a totally incredible experience for me, considering the fact that I myself have not done anything in a concert setting for about 20 years. I was a bit rusty....

A bit about my background: I've been singing in one choir or another since 1979 (am I that old??), and it's one of my few "claim to fames" so to speak.  My voice is a gift that God gave me, and it seems I've always been able to sing.  However, my voice has never been developed.  I do have the raw talent.  I'm a soprano and a first soprano. 

There's a gal who, though she's only 22, has met with success on the European circuit, with opera being her speciality, and I sat next to her through the whole quarter, and let me tell you, her voice was amazing.  She's a really sweet person too! I considered it a privilege and a joy to get to sit with her and learn from her, and she inspired me! Her example aspired me to reach as deep as I could and give it everything I had.....For the first time, I know what I want from my voice.  I know I can, and I'm going to do it! 

And Husband and I have decided that I will enroll at the college in the Voice course that our choir director offers.  It's a very small class.  I've never done anything like that to develop my voice.  I'm nervous and excited and ready!! I believe the class starts in July.  I will also be joining the concert choir in the fall.

YIKES!!! For the first time in my life, at the age of almost39, I'm allowing myself to dream.  I do have a good voice (is that bragging?) and I've been told that I have the ability to develop my voice to be super.  So.....I'm running with it!!

I'll let you know how it goes!