I Love to Sing

I love to sing.

Ever since I was a young girl, I loved to sing. My first time singing in public was at church with my mother. She and I sang a duet together during the “special music” segment while the offering plate was being passed around to the congregation. After singing into that microphone and feeling the adrenaline rush (or the Holy Spirit), I was hooked. 

Over the years, my mother and I spent countless hours at home in her music room, singing song after song, night after night just for fun. When she taught piano lessons in the afternoons and evenings, I would lock myself in my bedroom, turn on my CD player, and sing my lungs out for hours until it was dinnertime. I was so concentrated on singing the song perfectly and loudly that I couldn’t hear my parent’s knocking at my bedroom door. “Trina, stop locking your door! It’s time to eat!” 

Oops. I just reeeeaaalllyyyy love to sing.

I’ve had seasons of my life where I’ve tried the singer-songwriter thing, tried worship leading, tried teaching voice lessons and managing a music lessons program, tried playing cover songs, but everything just didn’t feel like…me. There was always something that didn’t feel quite right, something preventing me from succeeding or feeling satisfied. 

On a whim, I decided to join a choir that was meeting over the summer. “We are going to rehearse on Fridays & Sundays, with a concert at the end of the month. Come to as many rehearsals as you can.” Ok, I think I can do this. 

We sang challenging music and it was my first time singing the soprano part instead of the alto part. I hadn’t sung in a choir in about eight years but I could still read the music and figure out my part. Felt like riding a bicycle.

Before the concert, our director had us stand in a circle and share with the group why we joined this choir. This was a couple years into the pandemic, a time when a lot of choirs weren’t singing together. Around the circle, I heard everyone say:

“I’ve missed singing with other people.”

“Singing is an outlet for me to express my emotions.”

“I love the challenging songs we are singing.”

“The caliber of musicianship with this group is amazing.”

“I just love to sing.”

And that’s when I realized I wasn’t the only one.