Wanted: people who sing

My Wednesday night choir is having recruitment issues. Well, actually, we're having retention issues. We weren't a very big group to start with - maybe twentyish people last year. And then we lost quite a few people for various reasons (jobs elsewhere, graduation, living in Wales for a year, etc). So we're down to 2 to 4 people per section. And every week we have a few new recruits trickle in, but they rarely come back the week after. Maybe our Big Bad Bach piece scares them off. I don't know why a 27-page German piece for double choir is intimidating. I mean, it's not like we have to sing both parts - we're "Choir II". Or perhaps our director's fondess for Swedish songs is a turn-off. But really, it's a university choir, and there are only 4-6 students in it. I mean, I can maybe pass for a university student, but still, we need more people!

It's such a contrast to my Tuesday night choir, where the pews in our rehearsal space are overflowing with singers. It definitely takes the pressure off, and I can just sing softly until I know what I'm doing. Plus, it's so interesting to watch a large group of middle-aged people interact with one another. You would think that habits learned in high school would have worn off by now.

I have the same choir director for both choirs, and he has just realized that I'm in the Tuesday choir. I'm really a shy, wallflower-type person when I'm in choir, so I didn't think he would notice. However, this evening he greeted me by name and we had a little chat. Interesting. And here I thought I was blending into the woodwork.