Chorus

Joining the chorus was one of the best thing I have done in university. I only joined this year for several reasons. Third year wasn't a particularly happy year for me and I spent a lot of time reflecting on why this had occurred. One of my action plans was to participate in activities where I can get away from medics and meet some non-medics. Watching 'Last choir standing' and 'Maestro' over the summer holiday also re-ignited my enthusiasm for music. So I decided that I'd join this choir.

Rehearsal was always interactive and fun. It was handy to be sitting beside a music student during the first rehearsal as she had spare pencil to lend me. We were supposed to bring pencils to mark things in the score, just like piano lessons. First rehearsal was intimidating I have to admit. First of all, I've never seen a choir with that many people in it: there must have been 300 of us in the hall! The chorus is a non-auditioning choir and it's easy to assume that this translates as 'no experience required'. Incorrect. After the warm up, the conductor told us the page number to open, cued the pianist, and when the bars for vocal parts arrived, everyone just started singing! It appeared that we do need to know how to read notes, rhythms, time and key signatures, markings, italian terms etc. The pieces was quite long, so half of the rehearsals in the year consisted of sight-singing. Our conductor wanted us to do everything right at the first go, everything included not only the notes (i.e. the sound and words) but also the dynamics, expressions, diction etc. How demanding! Even in my grade 7 piano exam sight reading I had to completely ignored the expressions because my concentration was fully occupied in getting the notes and timing right. But I also loved the rehearsals because of this. It's challenging, but I knew I have the knowledge to do it right if I try hard enough. It was just wonderful to be engaging my brain in non-medical stuff, as though my brain have been straving of some vital nutrients that stimulation from medically related exercises cannot provide.

We performed two pieces, one for the Christmas concert and another one for the end of year concert. I fell in love with the first one, Elijah by Mendelsohn, from the first time we sang. It's a typical classical period music and I love classical period stuff. It's vibrant, yet still confine to certain rules and structures, rendering it predictable, makes sense to sing and easy to understand. On the other hand, the War Requiem by Britten took a while for me to see how the sound fitted togather to make any sense. I felt that it was not my cup of tea to begin with, but later on I came to understand how the theme of peace in Wilfred Owen poem was interwoven in the mass for the dead (Requiem) to make the whole song a messege/warning from mourning and deceased people to the world, and suddenly everything became very moving and meaningful.

Concerts were very exciting to prepare. I would always remember how I felt the first time we rehearsed with the orchestra. It was too overwhelming. The orchestra were so magnificent that I felt compelled to sing to the best of my ability to contribute to the grandiosity of the sound. Now I know that the pleasure of watching a concert can never ever be compared with that of performing. I was bursting with sense of pride along with the other singers and musicians when the conductor led us to stand and receive applause from the audience, especially on the second night of the Elijah concert when a few friends came along.

Being in the chorus had truly revived my interest in music again. I am going to continue singing with the chorus and when I go back home, I will continue learning piano until grade 8 or diploma. I endeavour to learn as much about music while I'm on the western side of the globe and start a group, perhaps involving children and charity, things that I'm passionate about. I really really really enjoyed this and I'd love to share this with others especially those not privileged enough to know music.


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