Expectations by Alyssa

Expectations by Alyssa - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

Growing up in a musical family singing is important. Christmas caroling is tradition, school choirs concerts are all the time, and there is always someone singing in the house. Being the fifth of six children I watched my older siblings excel in their school choirs. They were all in chamber, which is the top choir at my school. All my siblings were in chamber their junior and senior years. This is rare because only three or four juniors make it in each year. I wanted to be in chamber both years just like my older siblings. When it was my turn to tryout my junior year I wasn’t ready. It seemed to come too fast. The time to prepare had passed. I made call backs, which everyone expected, but I didn’t make it into chamber. When I didn’t make it my heart was broken. I had this goal for almost all my life, but I hadn’t put the time to achieve it. I expected it to happen, because that is how it looked for all my older siblings, but things don’t just happen. I didn’t see the hours of work my sibling put into becoming better singers. I could have put more time into becoming better, but I didn’t. This became obvious when I didn’t make chamber. You have to put work into your goals or they won’t happen.
Tryouts for chamber were coming up again. I wasn’t going to let myself believe that I would make it with no effort. Things would be different. For months I practiced sight singing, rhythm, intonation, and confidence. I sang the national anthem for a wrestling game. I tried out for solos. I worked on rhythm and sight singing for many hours. I took voice lessons from my mom. I went to my teacher and asked her, “Why I didn’t make it into chamber my junior year?”, so I could work on it. I did everything I could to try and be ready for this years tryouts.
The day of tryouts arrived and I made call backs. Just like before, but this time I was ready. Callbacks were on a Saturday morning in February. I walked into the choir room nervous, but excited. I saw friends, strangers, seniors who were currently in chamber, and students that didn’t make chamber last year either. As soon as we started the warm ups I instantly wasn’t nervous anymore. Then we all had to sing alone in front of everybody, and the nerves came back. I was one of the last people to go. As it got closer and closer to my turn it felt as though more and more butterflies flew into my stomach. When the choir teacher, Warby, called my name it felt as though my heart stopped. I had sang in front of people comfortably before, but nothing could compare to the nerves that I was feeling in that moment. When I started singing I could see eyes that before were disengaged quickly turn and look at me. They never looked away. The moment I finished I felt relieved. I knew I couldn’t have done any better. The next day I learned that I had made chamber. I put a tremendous amount of time into achieving this goal and my family and I are all extremely pleased that I made chamber.