Alto angst

Monday is choir practice. I don’t read music so I sing the alto part either by memorising the alto melody or by leaning toward my fellow altos to try to match their notes. Sometimes the harmony is intuitive--I know when to go up or down and by how much. But sometimes I’m completely lost. I have no idea where the next note is. Even if I listen to my fellow altos, I’m not always sure I’m hitting the same note. And the sopranos, of course, belt out the melody, so that confuses me. I probably have no business being in a choir but when I can manage to memorise my part and sing it with some confidence, I love the result. Our little band of altos swimming against the soprano tide, holding our own into the headwind of a well-known melody. Sometimes it gives me goosebumps.
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