Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Short End of the Stick

Yesterday it all began. From 7th grade to my teaching stints up north to TinyTuna's first rehearsal for Children's Choir, we were running from dawn until dusk. Because TinyTuna had been out East during choir orientation, we had to go early so she could sing for the director and get her voice placement. I was amused and just a little pleased that she was a touch nervous for her audition. I tried to reassure her, telling her, "It's ok...You're already in, you know." But I knew how important it was for her to do a good job and sound her best. Although we've never talked about it, she recognizes every performance is important and that you are only as good as your last audition. This is the sign of a good musician. If only my college students were so wise.

As we were in the car and she was fretting, I found some music on the iPod that she knew. Four measures later, she's singing up a storm and feeling much better.

I heard bits and pieces of her audition as I was filling out forms and emptying my wallet in the name of music. She was down the hall and in a separate room, but in the back of my mind as I heard her singing skywards I thought, "Hey, not too bad." She came out of the room all smiles. The big news of the audition seemed to be that she was going to be placed in the THIRD ROW which, from the sounds of it, was a caps-lock, leaned over and bold kind of event. The third row, she explained, was for the strongest singers. I smiled and gave her a hug, told her that sounded great, and wished her a good rehearsal.

Two hours later, I came back to pick her up. As expected, she was bouncing off the walls excited about her music and her friends and HOW GOOD THEY SOUNDED THIS YEAR! It was high drama. As we drove home, I asked, "So, how was the THIRD ROW??" She looked at me and said, "It was great. UNTIL I WAS MOVED BACK TO THE FIRST ROW."

Uh Oh.

Hoping to massage the situation, I smiled that Lord let this be the right thing to say smile and said, "Well, you know, you're probably in the first row because you're such a strong singer and you can help other kids who are new."

TinyTuna looked at me and said, "It wasn't because I'm STRONG.
It's because I'm SHORT!
NOBODY COULD SEE ME!!"

I couldn't help it. I laughed.
(I really have to work on that.)

Fortunately, I didn't seem to case permanent damage her delicate psyche. She spent the rest of the ride home reading me poetry, telling me how great they sounded and how happy she was to be back in choir again.

*Phew*

1 comment:

nlk said...

welcome back to the craziness!

i was always in the back row--the tall row--and seanner seems destined to follow. my 9-year-old is already 5'3"!!!