So, okay, here is the story of ...

... how I made it into the elite University Choir.

I’m not much of a singer, but I can carry a tune, and I always loved singing in choruses and choirs in school and at church, and I wanted to be a choir director when I grew up.

To that end, I enrolled as a music major at Wisconsin State University-Stevens Point in 1965. In addition to the English and history and other basic stuff all freshmen had to take, I was also required to take voice and piano lessons, music theory class, and be in two ensembles. Since I didn’t play a band or orchestra instrument, I had to get my ensemble credits from vocal groups, and the only two possibilities for me that first semester were the women’s glee club, which welcomed all comers, and the University Choir, which required an audition.

The University Choir was directed by David Dick, head of the choral/vocal faculty. All hopefuls came to rehearsals at first, and the director scheduled private auditions throughout the first week. Before the first rehearsal of the second week, the cut list was posted on the rehearsal room door, I guess so that if your name was on it, you knew not to come in any more.

My name would probably have been on the reject list except that I managed to miss my originally scheduled audition, having totally forgotten about it. Mr. Dick pointed that out at the next rehearsal, and I was so genuinely embarrassed and contrite that he gave me a second chance. In his studio that afternoon, he asked me what part I sang, and I said I always sang alto. After he heard me sing, I could tell he wasn’t impressed. He sat thinking for several long moments, and I sensed he was uncomfortable. Finally, he said, “Can you sing second?” By that he meant, second alto, the lowest female voice; second altos are generally rather scarce. I assured him I could and had sung second alto. “All right,” he said at last.

Whew. I made it.

When I told my voice teacher that I was singing second alto in the University Choir, she was puzzled because she had already decided I was really a mezzo-soprano. “You do have a strong lower register,” she said, not wanting to criticize the Chairman’s decision. “I suppose that’s why Mr. Dick put you in that section.”

No, Mr. Dick decided that another voice in the second alto section, even a mediocre one, was better than having to tell me to my face that I wasn’t good enough to be in his choir.