Audition

Aaron auditioned for the Northwest Boychoir today! I love this picture, in spite of the backlighting and the storage-closet environs: it shows so clearly how Ben pays attention, and how Aaron is listening. This was during the pitch-matching exercise, when Ben would play a chord and Aaron would sing the notes he heard. This was challenging, but he did pretty well.

By that time he had completed his solo and was feeling pretty good about things. Back at home, he had had an attack of nerves: he said he was not ready, and he was afraid they would tell him he did a bad job. He is a very different kid from Jordan... Jordan doesn't worry about things in advance (although he does sometimes lose his nerve in the moment), and even if he did, he tends to keep negative emotions to himself. Aaron is both more of a worrier and more expressive. But he also cheers up pretty readily, especially with the help of his brother. Jordan and I gave him pep talks and he felt much better. He was excited about his song (the Pharrell Williams song "Happy"), which he learned with his school choir. In his solo, he sang quietly, but musically, and he did not let his nerves get the better of him. After that there was the pitch matching, some rhythm matching (Ben claps a rhythm and Aaron claps it back), and some plain old reading (a page from Where the Wild Things Are). And that was it! We got the callback, and he goes in Thursday afternoon for a group session with the other new boys. Aaron is thrilled with his achievement.

Jordan's boychoir audition, when he was a year older than Aaron is now, was the beginning of something that has become a big part of our family life. We are very happy to have both of our kids mentored by Ben and the other teachers in this great organization.