Boender 1

Ahren Boender
Mrs. Wallach
AP Language and Composition
1 November 2016
The Not-so Angel Choir
In choirs worldwide, students, adults, and professionals entrance audiences with the
stunning sensation of music. To a listener a choir is a performance, yet to a director a choir is a
balancing act. Of voices and volumes, it is the director and singers jobs to balance them. While a
single voice may not seem important, a removal of a person is like removing a key from a piano
in which it may seem fine and one might say, well I have eighty seven more but soon enough
the song asks for that note. Admittedly while the end product of a song may sound like an angel
choir, the road to a better sound is usually slowed and or halted by members with interesting
qualities such as the avalanche, the bad habit, the tone deaf, and the chatterbox. Yet, while these
people may slow the choir, they themselves and the rest of the choir somehow pull together for a
performance.
The Avalanche
What may seem like a strange name to some, is a perfect explanation to this person. The
music stops, the director cuts, and the avalanche continues on. Keeping up the characteristic
habit he portrays-because the avalanche lacks a certain portion of vision that prevents him from
seeing the director cut- the choir stops, but he goes on, and on, and on until others around him
may join in as well- confused if they are to be singing as well. Soon enough, the entire group is
vocalizing loosely until the director has to slip in again and take the reins. All jokes aside
however, while habits may be hard to break, this one seems to disappear by performance time.
The Avalanche- while bad in practice, is still important to the larger voice of the choir; without
him his section would lose a voice.
The Bad Habit
In comparison to the avalanche who's habit seems to vanish come performance time, the
bad habit somehow manages to keep his forever. With small addictions such as hair and nail
chewing, toe tapping, throat singing, and hair twirling (to name a few), the bad habit never
ceases to find new ways to aggravate his neighbors. Rarely, the bad habits will display these
characteristics of themselves to a public audience yet depending on the age group they are in,
they might leak a few twiddles here or a few taps there. With older age groups however, the bad
habits soon learn a more professional etiquette and will round out eventually.
The Tone Deaf
Amidst the sea of noise rushing towards the audience, a certain pitch seems off from
the others. There, tucked away in the choir, the tone deaf sings with blissful unawareness of his
note. While tone deafness itself has been studied; that only some humans can't be fully tone deaf.
Aside from this, the singer somehow manages to break all of these known laws and sings a half
pitch below or above the song. Whether he thinks it is humorous or if he truly doesn't know his
note, it is a mystery to many. In spite of his lack of pitch, the singer still has the rhythm that
others don't and is still a useful part of the whole choir.
The Chatterbox
Seemingly reserved in the stands, the chatterbox blends in by showtime and when he is
needed most. Yet, when in practice or at other such events the chatterbox begins to shine. With
vocal chords more strong than Dwayne Johnsons biceps, the chatterbox excels at one thing and
one thing only: talking. For being a singer, the chatterbox lives up to his name by somehow

Boender 2
talking in a class twice as much as he would be singing. Most surprisingly, the chatterbox has
little need for water or other commodities that would keep him from his main objective of
talking. Distracting as he is, the chatterbox must be there for some reason and come performance
time it is apparent why.
A choir which appears flawless may have dozens of different habits and strange
assortments of attitude in it, yet the performance is just as enchanting as if they were all one
hundred percent flawless. When it comes down to it, the different people in a choir add to it
rather than hurting it. By supplying character, every choir has a certain charm to be found
because of its members. Those who lack one ability make up with other qualities that help others;
those who may not have pitch might be better with rhythm and those that talk more frequently
are surely more confident in singing louder. All together, they all help to form one voice.