The Hawaiian guy came to be one of my best friends my freshman year, Andrew Klein; he showed me the ropes of West Ottawa choir. Particularly, how to befriend Mrs. Pierson. Admittedly, Mrs. Pierson terrified me at first. She takes music, seriously, as it ought to be taken. Music should be inseparable from emotion. She has helped me to now feel as though, if one does not feel an emotional connection when they sing, they are singing for the wrong reasons and should not participate in a choir. Andrew Klein got me in trouble regularly for talking out of turn in class (One time, him and our friend Mackenzie decided to poke each of my sides. I was not good with being poked or touched so I screamed and fell on the floor in the middle of a song. Mrs. Pierson was not so happy) , but he also taught me about Mrs. Pierson which, I suppose, made up for the trouble.
The woman wrapped in a blanket was Ms. Bergsma, our old choir accompanist. She is very good at giggling and very very talented at the piano. Ms. Bergsma resigned this past year, but it was a joy having her for my Freshman through Senior year. I shall expand on her more when I make my post about sophomore year, for that is when I remember that my relationship with her started to grow.
Ms. Verdonk was our student teacher my freshman year. At first, I was annoyed that she would sit between Andrew Klein and I and put a cork in our constant talking. But I opened my eyes to the fact that she was doing her job and causing me to do a better job at my own job, paying attention and singing. Ms. Verdonk is quirky and energetic and loves purple and her and Ms. Bergsma became best friends and it was a joy to be friend with the two and share in the love.
I made many friendships in Concert Choir, the choir I have been in since freshman year. To this day Danny and Caleb and Mackenzie and Ricky and Parker, just to name a few, and I reminisce on the many odd and wonderful occurrences of concert choir.
Freshman year, choir meant friends to me. Middle school was rough and offered few friends. I was relentlessly bullied by the majority of my class. When I came to be part of a community that accepted me, even thought I was funny and precious, I knew I had struck gold.
I didn't know it at the time, but freshman year as I stepped into West Ottawa choir, I stepped into one of the biggest influences on my life.
Help support my last hurrah trip to Canada with West Ottawa Choirs: http://www.gofundme.com/53tr1s
Despite the high level of embarrassment some of these or all of the pictures involved, here is a collection of freshman year choir pictures,
No comments:
Post a Comment