Sitting nervously on the torn seats of
a Volkswagen Beetle, I rode shotgun with my music teacher to the
University of Maine. The tiny windshield wipers of his puttering
jalopy fought furiously to keep the glass clear from the pouring
rain. An eyeball bobble-head bounced around on the dashboard as I
prepared mentally for the Maine Allstate coral performance. In the
meantime, my music teacher and I made small talk about the things
that unite us all; like politics and religion.
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“I don't fit in here,” I thought as
we waited in line at the University campus to enter the large
auditorium classroom to begin the rehearsals. There were hundreds of
kids from all over Maine, many of which were fantastic singers. Yet
I, a sports loving, drum playing, video game addicted nerd who hung
out with geeks and skateboarders, felt as if I was dropped on an
alien planet. There were almost no boys that shared my common
interests as far as I could tell. Let us just say that most of these
girls could not have found a date here if they had tried. The boys
were a little flamboyant and I felt somewhat at ease with this
realization. After all, all these girls and yet so few who were
interested? Great odds for me though. I avoided the distraction and
focused on singing.
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I stood there amongst the tenors as the
coral director walked on stage to the applause of the crowd assembled
in the Main Hall. My family were among them, seated towards stage
right. The director tapped that little plastic magicians wand on the
music stand and the concert began. Three hundred of us all putting
to practice what we had learned, working our way through the songs
with expert precision. I marveled at how amazing we sounded.
Accompanied by nothing other than a piano, and due to the masterful
tutelage of the coral director, we sounded like the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir. Seemingly without effort, our voices rose up and down,
filling the hall with emotion in total synchronicity. The hall
filled with uproarious applause.
I keep finding things here that throw me off
ReplyDelete* "small talk about the things that unite us all; like politics and religion"--I'd have thought those are exactly the things that divide us
* "Let us just say that..." That coyness bothers me too. Gay is gay and is okay to say--but the stereotyping is offputting.
* "uproarious"--doesn't really mean 'loud'; it means rowdy and loud. Boozy parties get uproarious, but presumably applause at a choral recital is simply enthusiastic.
All that English teacher bitchery aside, you've got the linked vignettes working here to cover a lot of territory with a few quick strokes, exactly what is called for.
The "religion/Politics" quip was an attempt at some levity but apparently my awkward use of it was not necessary. The "lets just say" comment was because I didn't know for a fact they were gay, how would I know. But they were obviously leaning that way. I did not want to label the entirety of the boys All State Coral ensemble as gay, so. And the audience was in fact fairly uproarious. Whistling. hooting, yelling and the like.
ReplyDelete