When I was in junior high, I sang in a church choir. I wouldn’t say I had a great voice but Fr. Gaffney always did say I had chutzpah! During my years at the Naval Academy that singing chutzpah translated into a walk on audition to land the lead role as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof my senior year. I think it was more chutzpah then singing for my solo ability that got me the role.
Last weekend I had the tremendous delight to experience a women’s glee club reunion with close to 80 women who represented 30 out of the 37 years of women alumni from the Naval Academy. All of us shared the experience of the singing tradition at the Naval Academy. To be in a room with women who serve our naval service’s highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty would have been enough but then to come together to sing that was amazing. I learned so much by being in the midst of these women.
Let me share:
Singing solo is not the same as singing in a group. The soloist who stands up in front of a professional gathering singing the national anthem requires a voice with a quality and power that the majority of us do not possess. Good news! You don’t need that kind of voice if you learn the lessons of singing together.
So what do we need to sing together?
You need a leader with a clear vision of the outcome.
Dr. Cindy Bauchspies was an amazing leader. She had years of experience and excellence. She had the program in mind and knew what it could sound like but she was also open to what could be happening with so many voices coming together. She ably guided a large group of diverse voices with mixed qualities while still hearing things that most of us sitting in our seats could not hear. She both demanded and encouraged the best possible voice we could bring to each song in the program.
You need followers who are passionate about both the results and the relationships.
Throughout the rehearsals all I heard was mutual encouragement and praise. No one was leaning over to their neighbor and criticizing. Even when we fell short our adjustment was couched in, “Did you see this here?” and a ,”Let’s do this”. It never felt like work or even hard although during a break you would hear someone express their individual uncertainty for their personal ability. They weren’t worried for themselves, they were worried about impacting the choirs’ sound. Our singing was supported by the shared experience of the Navy and the Naval Academy and the relationships they represented.
So while you may not sing, you do speak. I am sure you work with others to accomplish something important to your family, to your church, to your work in your community.
I hope you experience in your world even just a few bars of what I experienced this weekend.