Why Not?

When I first saw them perform in early November, I had difficulty pinpointing what impressed me most about the Moms' Chorus Circle. I had never experienced mothers' 'clubs' in any other school environment, so the idea of moms gathering weekly to rehearse music to perform at the Kindergarten several times per year was new to me. And these are moms (like moms everywhere) with quite a few other things going on in their lives, which is why the polish on their performance was also striking to me. In my bumbling and stumbling way, I tried to say as much after that November concert. In their gracious and earnest way, they invited me to join them.

Join them?! Tempting!  I like to sing! But would my love for singing be enough to conquer one rather imposing obstacle? My inability to read or speak Japanese would not be insignificant in this circumstance. Time passed, and in their gracious and earnest way, these kind mums again invited me to join.  In my bumbling and stumbling way, I accepted their invitation.  Why not?

Indeed.

I was clearly in over my head from the start. Except for one song, the music was unfamiliar, and though they had kindly prepared for me a binder containing the musical scores, that nagging little obstacle remained: one of these moms was not like the others.  Japanese words danced across the page as I tried in vain to chase them, and as the practice came to a close, I concluded that the Moms' Chorus Circle might be better off without the American whose only qualification to that point was 'likes to sing'.

I've come to discover that you cannot out-nice the Japanese, and the Chorus Circle is yet another example of that. While I was busy reconsidering my agreement to join, several moms were finding ways to preserve that agreement. By the next practice I had received e-mails containing Youtube links to the songs, as well as new musical scores, the Japanese words painstakingly transcribed into romaji (English alphabet) so that I could begin to follow along. English translations of the songs followed, so that I could also understand the sentiment of the music. There'd be no backing out now!

Our final (and my only) concert of the year was last Friday, and while this link to Boyoyon March may not represent our best song, it certainly represents our favorite. My kids are constantly belting out their own Japanenglish versions, and the vision of Evelyn exuberantly singing along at the concert was priceless. (Bless her heart, she went to a lot of practices with Mommy!)  The general sentiment is one of encouragement from the moms as they sing their final send-off to the graduating Kindergartners: You can do the difficult things that lie ahead. 

Boyoyon March - Chorus Circle

While one of the moms may not be exactly like the others (it was all I could do to get the words out!!), the Chorus Circle will always be a rich and happy memory...a challenging and rewarding why not.