Other than singing in the chorus in elementary school, and as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz in 4th grade, I have never sung formally with any group or choir. I have always loved many different types of music and enjoy singing, especially hymns in church, but never felt real confident about my voice and singing ability. So it was with some apprehension that I agreed to join the Saint Paul’s choir for the season of Lent and Easter Day.

By joining the choir I learned many things. First of all, it is fun! I did not expect choir to be fun, but it is! And the main reason choir is fun is because of the people involved. Our choir is made up of an extremely talented group of people, with a wide range of choral experience and training, who take their music ministry very seriously, but don’t take themselves too seriously! Ingrid Steele is an excellent Choir Director, and always knows just the right thing to say in every situation. She is a great teacher, and has an instinctive knack of knowing how to blend rookies (me) with veterans (most everyone else) and make each of us feel comfortable, appreciated, and that we are making a contribution. It is obvious that Ingrid has great skill and experience, and she runs rehearsal time with good humor and good time management.

I learned that I am a tenor. Tenors are male voices that sing the higher range notes. I also learned that these are not the notes I usually try to follow and sing out of the hymnal each Sunday morning! And it takes quite a bit of work and concentration to follow the “tenor line” (rather then the “melody line”, or one of the other lines I might have been following before!) But I also learned that the hard work and concentration pays off, because when all the four parts - soprano, alto, tenor and bass - all blend together, our choir sounds really good!

It has been a great experience being a part of the choir. They all took very good care of me, and always supported and encouraged me, in spite of my lack of experience. We sang great pieces of music which were fun and challenging to work on. I look forward to participating with the choir from time to time in the future, and I would encourage all parishioners to consider joining our choir! Really! If I could do it, you can do it! Even if you try the choir for a season or a few months as a trial period, I guarantee it will be a satisfying experience for you.

Join the choir, and make some beautiful music with some really great people while serving an important ministry for our parish!