singing

Or not, as the case may be. 

I joined a choir in September in a humble attempt to remind myself that my whole life was not purely about pureed vegetables.  I figured that singing Rock-a-bye Baby, among other great bedtime hits, four hundred and thirty thousand times over the last year would surely prepare me for something bigger.  And so, when the call for auditions came through my OTL's work email, I figured it was the universe's way of telling me something.

When I called to enquire about the auditions, and to admit a pathological fear of them, the choir conductor was so warm and cheery that she had me convinced to come along and sing the Australian national anthem for her before I'd even fully said my whole name.  In the week building up to the audition I really let rip on some old standards, just to make sure my vocal chords were well oiled for the big day.  My Wheels on the Bus was energetic and fun; my Row, Row, Row Your Boat was balanced but light; and my rendition of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean had hearts breaking up and down the street.  My little man, Tiny (for that is what we shall call him from now on, on this blog), was deeply moved.  I could tell.

The day dawned and, as a result of such careful preparation, I was surprisingly calm.  In fact, I do remember thinking "For God's sake, woman, you've given birth.  How much harder can this be?"  And I was dead right.  It was fine.  I was wobbly but competent and surprised them all with an Australian-accented version of the Ode to Newfoundland as my chosen audition piece.  Why I did this, remains a mystery even to me, however it is an island that has a history of struggling against great adversity and so I was obviously channeling it for strength and inspiration.

So now I'm committed, once a week, to singing anything but nursery rhymes and lullabies.  It fries my brain sight reading all the music and making sure I'm making the right harmony, but for two and a half hours a week I do something that has nothing to do with being a mother.  It's a revelation.



Note that we are singing this about 100 times faster (see it says "fresh and lively" at the top of the score) but I couldn't resist the humpbacked organ player and the sweet little boys.