Manweller 1
Caitlin Manweller
English Composition: Final Portfolio
Mrs. Tetterton
15 December 2010
In “One Voice,” Susan G. Madera writes about the two languages she knows. The first language she knew being English, and the second, that of her neighborhood. She writes about the struggle she has to transform the improper grammar of her “neighborhood,” into an accepted English grammar. She is completely dedicated to improving herself, and although she continued to have problems with this, she also had her English language perfectly placed into writing. Her writing was the thing she was good at. Although her reflection may not directly apply to me, it did however make me think music, the one thing I am as passionate about, as she is about the improvement of her writing. Like Madera, I also speak two languages.
The first language I know being English, and the other, the language of music. I remember when I first fell in love with music. I was in fifth grade, and I was auditioning for the All-State Elementary Honors Chorus. The auditions were held in Mrs. Daidy’s room after school. She was a math teacher with short, brown, wildly curly hair, and she was tall and skinny. We waited in the back of the tiny room that still had half-erased math problems on the board, and smelled like burnt popcorn. One by one we were called up, and were asked to learn, and perform a selection of the song “Et Exultavit Deo,” it was Latin, and had a fast tempo. At the end of the auditions, the judge, a short, hefty woman, lined us up and told me that I was chosen to participate in what would be one of the greatest, and most exciting times in my life.
Over the next few weeks we learned a selection of different songs, eight total. I remember practicing on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, on the stage in the cafeteria, staring at the dark burgundy curtain that had been pulled around, surrounding the stage, and hiding us from the outside world. After we had learned the songs, we had to send in voice recordings of ourselves, in order to know for sure if we had made it in or not. I remember the night before we recorded, I remember standing in the middle of the living room and singing “Once upon A December” from the movie Anastasia for my mother. I also remember showing up to practice the next day with a yellow post-it note on the inside of my folder that read “Sing with your Anastasia voice”, in blue ink, in my mother’s handwriting. Even now, every time I audition for a specific music part or group, I always remember that yellow post-it, and how it gave me the confidence to pursue music with whole-hearted devotion.
The next day, we recorded selections of all of the songs and sent in our tapes. The wait seemed like forever, although it was probably only a week later when we received our tapes back. Again, they said that we had made it in. We were both so excited and could not wait to go to Winston-Salem for the rehearsal and performance. Eventually that day did come, and we packed our stuff and drove up. The hotel we were staying at was nice, it had dim lighting, and golden framed elevators. I do not remember what the name of it was; only that it also had many floors, and that my family was crammed into one room.
The rehearsals were intense. They were more difficult than expected from an elementary school group. We practiced all day in a large room with red carpeting, and long rows of chairs placed into voice groupings. A couple for Sopranos, and another couple for the Altos. Our instructor was a heavy set women and she also had short, curly hair. We had two days of these all-day rehearsals, and then it was time for the performance. The performance center did not have many parking spaces near it, so we had to park away from it and walk. I remember that the air was bitterly cold, yet the sun was shining at the same time. The performance space was huge. It had long rows of seats, as well as balcony seating, and every seat was filled. There were bright lights beaming down on the stage, almost blinding us from everyone else in the room, and when we had finished there was thunderous applause that seemed to shake the room. I remember for the first time in my life I truly felt proud of myself. From then on out, I knew music was something in my life that I would always be pursuing.
I went from that experience and was in chorus all the way throughout middle and high school. Although my middle school chorus years were spent in a tiny white room, with about ten other children, and the worst teacher you could possibly imagine. My high school years were much more enjoyable, and some of the best years of my life because of how much I learned, and because of the connections I made between myself, and others that shared the same love of music.
My high school teachers name was Mrs. Bryan. She was also fairly heavyset, had silver hair, and often had smeared lipstick so you could see the off colored lip liner she had placed on her mouth that morning. However, she was also the best teacher I had ever had. She taught us that music was not just singing, it was a connection between the words and rhythms combined with what we had to feel inside when we were singing. She taught us how to connect to that place and to then share that with the audience, so they could feel what we were feeling. She taught me how to look at a page of sheet music, and know what it sounded like in my head. She helped me learn the true meaning of music. I will always take my knowledge, as well as the closeness I shared with my classmates, who will always be my best friends, with me to every other aspect of my life. Although some may ridicule and label the chorus kids as being “freaks”, we know better. We know that despite what other people think, they will never share that connection of soul and music that we experience. They will never be able to impact other people in the way that artists do, because we feel things differently than other people, and we can then make other people feel that way. We do not care what other people may say, we know what we love, and we know what we do with that love.
There is always one moment in your life that changes how you will end up in the years to come. Getting into the All-State Honors Chorus was that moment for me. It was the one thing that truly changed my life. A moment in my life that, while not important or grand to most people, ignited a passion for the musical world. Music is my vice, it is the one thing in my life that I can turn to at anytime and it will be there waiting to take me away from my life, into a place that is peaceful and serene. Music defies all barriers; it transcends from person to person, and can change you instantly. There are a lot of activities that people have in order to make their lives a better place for themselves. For me it is music, maybe for someone else it is dancing, or painting, or playing a sport of some kind. Whatever you have in your life that makes you feel safe and whole, do not give up on it, no matter what people might say. Do not give up on what you love most in this world, because you can always depend on that love to make everything in your life have worth. I speak two languages.
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