Sturgis Singers Reflection

Sturgis Singers has finally come to a close. After a year of hard work on our music we finally ended at the Senior class of 2009’s graduation. We sang our final piece with two of the people that have been the heart and soul of the group for so long this afternoon.

I went in to Sturgis Singers for many reasons. My reasons that I put for CAS were learning objectives 1 (to increase my awareness of my own strength and areas for growth) and number 2 (undertake new challenges).

So objective number 1….This was not my first time singing in a choir. I Started last year doing the lunch chorus and then later transferred in to the Chorus 10 class. I had previously had the ability (and talent) to sing (well) so this was not a new challenge for me. At first I felt that I wasn’t learning much. I had conflicts with the way Ms. Davis taught things and didn’t appreciate what she was teaching the group. But now as I reflect upon what I have done this year I think “Wow, I learned SO much.” I learned so many things I never even dreamed about. So many terms that I had no knowledge of! I had no idea what a run, or a ritardando, or a descant, or a bridge, or any of the fancy musical terms that she used. I also learned a lot more about how to better control my breaths; for example I had poor breath control when I started this, and I displayed that at my audition. But now I have learned when and where it is ok to take a large breath, when to take a sneak breath, and when to just simply use the breath I have when I have to hold long notes. Ms. Davis taught me a lot.

So as far as objective number 2 goes, I don’t really think I took on any new challenges. Previously I had hoped that Sturgis Singers would help be take on new challenges but looking back I realize that I did the same things I also did before, just at a more advanced level.

However, I do think that I met learning objective 4 even if I did not plan on that. Objective four is working collaboratively with others and boy did Sturgis Singers require that. There ended up being 12 of us by the end of the year and we were not 12 different people. We were one group of people that depended on each of the 11 members. We all needed to sound as near perfect as we could get (and believe me when I tell you that perfection is completely unattainable when it comes to music) so that when we performed we sounded flawless. If one of us was off key, everyone was off key. We had to help each other in so many ways that we became so close. When it came to Seasons of Love, Ms. Davis didn’t think that we could learn the piece in such short time. But we persisted. We told her we could do it. And she trusted us and we performed that song at graduation today.

Sturgis Singers has been such a rewarding experience. Though I have journaled negative things about it, I look back now and see how much good Sturgis Singers has done for me. It doesn’t matter if I was having fun while doing it, because what matters is that I did it, that I persisted even when it got tough and almost unbearable.