As my foot grazed the threshold of the cold and unfamiliar choir room, a tingle of

apprehension pulsed through my veins. It was an alien territory and I its wary explorer, foreign
yet curious of the area that lay before him. Being one of the three Asians in choir, I was both
nervous and excited to explore a course separate from the typical academic paths that were often
laid out before me, despite the fact that my only experience with singing had been in the resonant
and acoustically appealing corner of my shower. Hesitantly I meandered through a series of
chairs until I stumbled upon one marked with my name in bold blue letters, my very own seat in
a room I had never set foot in before.
It felt strange not having to wade through rows of music stands or having to suffer the
glares of haughty violinists as I had in orchestra two years before. In orchestra the seats were
often filled with eager students vying for first chair in each instrument section, a clear
determiner of ability relative to ones peers. It was a jungle-like free-for-all in which people
sought mainly to improve their standings. However, instead of the hostility that I had often
received from my cutthroat, competitive Asian peers in orchestra, the choir radiated a sense of
community and interdependence.
At the start of every class the voices in the room would rise and fall together in light, airy
falsettos as we all warmed up to sing. During our first vocal warm-up, unable to ascend into my
falsetto, I emitted a conspicuously loud and embarrassing yodel. I glanced around the room,
expecting sneers and chuckles, but I was met with sympathetic smiles and playful grins. It didnt
matter to anybody how great of a singer I was in choir, so the next class I yodeled without much
embarrassment, knowing that, with the support of these people around me, I would soon
improve.
In choir the focus wasnt about being good, but rather comfortable enough among the
people around you to let go of any inhibitions and to create harmonious blended music. Through
my many instances of unexpected yodels, among other embarrassing moments, I realized that in
order to truly progress and improve in a field, I needed to fight any unpleasant moments with
confidence and to create a unified, coherent ensemble with those around me. With this
realization I have transitioned from an apprehensive newcomer to an assured veteran, undaunted
by the unfamiliar paths that may lie before me.