Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to rehearse with our chapel’s choir for the Christmas cantata.
It’s been a lot of fun, but completely humbling as I did something that I’m not confident in.
I got myself in over my head. You see, I’m not really a singer. I do sing. I can sing. But I’m not a singer. I felt the Lord telling me to participate and support our choir. So, I did.
When asked which part I sing, I answered “alto” because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hit all of the sopranos’ high notes.
What I didn’t consider is that, while my voice may fit in the alto range, I have no real experience singing alto.
Compound that difficulty with my schedule interfering with the rehearsals, and there seemed to be a recipe for disaster.
Little did I know, however, that God had some great lessons in store for me as I sang alto.
The first lesson was this: singing alto is a lot like being a wife.
The lead voice (we’ll say tenor, since we’re making the comparison to men) sings the part that everyone’s familiar with and thinks is so beautiful, while the alto sings a supporting role that is often unnoticed {until it’s the wrong note}. Kind of like a wife.
The alto part isn’t always very pretty by itself (there are lots of repetitive notes in the alto part), but it is useful in making the lead voice sound like it’s even richer than it would be alone. That’s kind of like a wife, too. Wives often find that their lives can grow fairly monotonous with the daily routine, but their consistency in doing the day-to-day things makes their husbands’ lives run more smoothly and look more “beautiful” than they would otherwise.
Singing alto while listening to sopranos, tenors, and bass can be difficult. It requires concentration, focus and the ability to do your part while everyone around you is doing something different. Kind of like a wife.
And sometimes, you end up trying to do what everyone is doing, even when you know you shouldn’t. Kind of like a wife.
The second lesson I learned is that: singing alto is a whole lot easier when you’ve got some help to hit the right notes.
You see, God, in His grace for me, sent Therese, a kind, wonderful woman (with a great voice!) who joined the choir just for the Saturday morning rehearsal and the cantata performance on Sunday.
Therese pretty quickly picked up on the fact that I wasn’t hitting all of the notes. She didn’t waste any time; Therese started helping me immediately.
She did some key things to help me. Here they are:
~She took stock of my problem
~She didn’t call everyone’s attention to my difficulties
~Therese didn’t give me a lecture about how I should sing
~She leaned in and sang the correct notes strongly so that I could hear the right notes in the context of the performance
~Therese encouraged my efforts to imitate her, even when I wasn’t perfect
~She acknowledged the things that I was doing to make it easier for her to participate (I knew the flow of the music and helped her navigate the repeats and codas). This showed me that despite my difficulties, I had something valuable to offer.
Therese and I started as complete strangers. When she began helping me, I didn’t even know her name. As she leaned in, often shoulder to shoulder with me so that I could hear her easily, a camaraderie began that carried us through the performance.
Therese’s intimate involvement in helping me made a tremendous difference in my performance. It was far from perfect, but it was much-improved in just a short time. And for that, I’m so grateful.
That’s our desire here at The Imperfect Wives. We want to lean in close, without condemnation or lecture, and help you “sing the right notes.”
More than that, even…we want to equip you to do the same with the women in your sphere of influence. There are women you know who need your help. Gently. Quietly. Close. With hope for success.
Proverbs 17:17 says it this way: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother (sister) is born for adversity.”
Let’s pray.
Daddy, we come to you in Jesus’ Name. Lord, help us to be true friends and sisters, that we would love at all times and stand with each other in times of adversity. Bring true friends into our lives, as well, that we would experience Your love through others and have sisters who will stand with us when we go through seasons of adversity in our own lives. Lord, we thank You and believe that we receive when we pray. Amen.
In His Love,
Rebecca
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Love this post Rebecca!! How wonderful to have someone to help you through it. We all need that! And we need it done gently so we don’t feel ashamed. So happy God put you two together, taught you something and you shared it with us!
Love ya sis!