My Choral Epiphany

"I'll meet you outside the music room after school" she says, and patiently wait there I do. Standing outside the doors in the empty hallway outside the school's modest music room, I stand there, waiting for my girlfriend.

At first, the wait is uneasy. I've been taught from a very young age that I would best not waste my time with music. It's for the dumb kids, the ones who aren't good enough at the "important subjects" like Math, Social Studies and the Sciences my parents had said. I can't just waltz in there and fraternise with the music-folk... I'm not one of them. Besides, It looks like they're starting something anyway. No, I decide to wait in the empty hall.

And then It happens.

Mr. Thompson hushes the choir and then touches a key on the piano. Looking toward the choir, he raises his hands and the room sings back to him -- one solid representation of that single note. He then motions to each choral section, pointing up or down and the room moves with him.

There I am, in the hallway outside the music room, peering through a tiny window, basking in the most beautiful sound I've heard in my life.

I re-thought my position on music at that very moment and joined the Choir the next year. Thanks to Thompson Tran, who managed to get me in, and to Mr. Thompson who took a chance on a guy who had no prior musical experience. I went on to be heavily involved in the program, and can honestly say that my time in choir was the single shining light on a dark 13years of school.

Some days, I just wish I could get together with my Old Friends and sing again.