A Fish out of Water

...well, that's how I felt, anyway.

I needed a one hour credit course for the semester to satisfy my financial aid requirement. I had already taken weight training, and the other sport activity options didn't really suit my fancy. I'm not really a martial arts or scuba diving kinda girl.

So, I started looking at other subject courses, and, unsurprisingly, my eye wandered over to the music division. I spotted a choir class that was one hour credit and fit into my schedule, so I added it to my registration shopping cart and considered the matter taken care of.

....Until last week when I got an email from the music department informing me that I was receiving the email because I had signed up for one of the two campus YEAR LONG choirs that requires an AUDITION on the specified dates given on the website. Follow this link...yada, yada, yada.

I tried looking for another one hour class, but by this time they had edited the course offerings since it was the week school started. So, I signed up for an audition, thinking that if something else came open, I'd go for it.

Well, yesterday was the day of audition. I had to prepare a one minute excerpt of a song and sing it classically, then they would go through scales on the piano to see what my range was.

I've been through all of this before many moons ago when I went to college the first time. I did the whole marching band thing in high school, and I've been singing for, like...oh....MY WHOLE LIFE!

Don't get me wrong...I know there's a difference between singing for fun and singing classically. But it's funny to see how people react to a "non-music major" coming to audition for a university choir. I'm standing outside the door of the audition room with about 5-6 other people waiting for their turn.

At first, they look at you while they try not to look at you.
Then, they decide to be nice and introduce themselves to you because they might have to be stuck next to you for the semester.
Next, they try to "size up" the competition by asking things like
"What part do you sing?"
"Do you sight read?"
"Are you a music major?"
When they find out I'm a nursing major, they say, "Oooooooh......that's cool."
Pause.
"What made you try out for the choir?"
In other words, "Why are you here?"

By the time I get into the audition room, I was surprisingly frazzled. I didn't think my nerves would be that bad, but I guess it just got to me. The director asked pretty much the same questions as the students. I had chosen to sing part of a classical version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" that I had sung in a recital about 16 1/2 years ago. Because I was frazzled, I didn't think it was my best, but the director was visibly pleasantly surprised that I wasn't terrible. She said that there shouldn't be any reason why I couldn't be in the choir, but they would send the email confirmation Sunday, after all of the auditions were completed.

Ay, ay, ay...what did I get myself into???