Addendum

I love singing. Even if I'm feeling awful before hand, it never fails to re-energise me and I end up a creature of happy by the end of rehearsal. I've been singing in a choir for 11 (I think) years now, but it's pretty much one of the things that has stayed constant in my life. That being said, although all the choirs I've sung in have been affiliated with each other, it's still always weird having to adapt to a new level of expectations, new repertoire and most importantly, new people. The choir I've been singing in for the last 4 years was for high school students, and so I've had to graduate to the new choir. I'd been putting off for months asking my conductor whether I could join the adult choir (he takes both) because I seriously wasn't sure whether I was good enough. I've never done solo vocal training and of course what I sound like to myself is quite different to what I sound like to everyone else, so it was pretty hard to judge whether I was up to the standard. When I finally plucked up enough courage to ask him, luckily the answer was yes, and so over this summer I've been getting used to the idea that I'm now in a different group.

Tonight was our first rehearsal. I've known all of the people in the choir for a long time (we sometimes sing together at concerts) but I haven't really been close to any of them except the ones that were singing in my old choir in previous years, and the only other guy to come up this year was absent. So I definitely felt like I needed to prove myself. We slowly assembled in the rehearsal room, and unfortunately one of the guys who is the same part as me (Bass I) shares my first name, and the first initial of my last name. So we sorted out name arrangements (me to change, him to stay, of course) and then we begun.

Warmup took us like 10 minutes. It felt easier than it used to, when my voice was still adjusting, and the level of support from the other guys made the whole thing a lot easier and natural. When it came for all of us to sing individually (so our conductor can check what our voices are doing), luckily everyone was nervous so I didn't feel particularly self-conscious. We then collected our music and started singing through it. About a third of the repertoire was carried over from last year (mainly because they're having recording sessions for a CD (thankfully without me) in a week or so), so I found myself at par for the newer stuff and not hopelessly terrible at the stuff carried over, although one is incredibly fast-paced and in Irish so I was stumbling over the words for ages there. They move through material so quickly compared to my old choir, it's seriously 1-3 times through and moving on, probably because we're all on the same page about how to treat the piece stylistically and we don't need to be guided through as much. Break was OK, I talked to some people I knew but I still feel like I haven't found my niche yet. More singing followed, then before I knew it it was time to go home.

Waiting for my mum to pick me up (as public transport from the rehearsal location to my home is arduous, and I'm the only one without my Ps as far as I know), I could definitely tell that it was worth it; before I was sleepy, hungry and a bit out of it, after I was bouncing, happy and feeling great. We're going away on our annual summer weekend tomorrow, for intensive rehearsals (as well as just a bit of drinking), so hopefully it proves to be as good as the rehearsal was.

I wonder if my experience with starting a medicine degree will be the same; initially a lot of angst and awkwardness, but coming out after every day feeling like I've done a great job (I don't hold much hope for not being exhausted). Oh well, only a month to go.