I had the privilege of singing in an ensemble performance last Sunday, as part of the fantastic London Show Choir charity event in the Actors Church in Covent Garden…and in the process, I was able to fulfill a long held dream of mine.
I say ‘privilege’ because I was singing with 3 beautiful women, who are way more experienced than me… and this was my first time!
At the start of this journey, I viewed myself as the potential handicap to the team…after all, I was inexperienced at stage performance, had never sung as part of a group and certainly felt my voice was not as strong / in tune / pitched / powerful as theirs are…in other words, in my mind, I was going to be the one to let them down! And given we had been thrown together by fate rather than planning, I definitely felt THEY had drawn the short straw!
In reality, these generous, kind-hearted, beautiful souls enveloped me and drew me in – they shared their experiences of past events, which enabled me to mentally rehearse how it would be ‘on the night’. They encouraged me, guided me and had incredible patience with me…and they nurtured, supported and protected me.
Actually, we nurtured and supported each other – we had appreciation, gratitude and trust for each other; we bantered, joked and had a laugh…and we challenged and pushed each other to be the best we could be, both individually and as a group….just as any high performing, successful team would.
They reminded me that it’s not just about learning the words and singing in tune…it’s about so much more than that. We ‘did alright on the night’ because we were a tight knit group who were there to do the best for each other. Feedback suggests we nailed it on all counts…and I suspect that was due to our teamwork!
The Beatles certainly knew what they were saying when they sang “Ooh, I’ll get by with a little help from my friends”!
So thank you, Amanda, Clare and Faye for empowering me to fulfill my