Competition Season

Here we go again. The merry-go-round is starting to spin, the sleepless Saturday nights are preparing to unfurl, and the rollercoaster of highs and lows are preparing to unleash weekly havoc on my nerves,........it's competition season!!!

To the 99.9% of the world that has no idea what I mean, it's the beginning of show choir invitationals for 2010, and all the work I've been doing since May of 2009 is about to be put under weekly scrutiny by panels of judges, some very fair and some very not! It's the quest for the golden chalice of show choir, championship trophies and caption awards. While I wish these things didn't matter, my livelihood, reputation, and HOUSE PAYMENT depends on success in these endeavors.

I once heard a fellow pro in the business say that each championship is like the ringing of a cash register. While I certainly understand that opinion, I'm not quite that jaded yet. I still get nervous when the phone rings, when results are posted, when scoring envelopes are handed out, and when I see kids I work with holding hands and closing their eyes as finalists and placements are announced. It's as if all matters of world peace, nuclear disarmament, third-world hunger and economic tsunamis mean nothing. The results,.....the announcements,......the tension and subsequent release of either joy or disappointment are all that matter in the world to these kids.

I want them to be proud,....to be happy,....to be successful. I want them to feel as if the investment of their time, talent, and sweat has been justified and recognized. Seeing them disappointed is agony for a teacher that cares, and I (we) feel as if we've failed them in the process. Why didn't I choreograph that better? The song I wrote isn't touching the emotions of the crowd in the way I wanted, how did I screw it up so badly?

But when triumph roars, the emotions are oh so sweet. I feel like a hero and a role model, though the hero part is far from true. It's just like the sweet golf shot you hit every so often, you watch it flying perfectly through the air and land directly on target, and you think "I could never stop loving this". Well, that's me and show choir. Although I despise some of the moments and dread some of the days, the sweet shots that are occasionally hit, the rising applause of a satisfied audience, and the hug of a kid you love that just achieved a dream performance makes it all worth it. Now teeing off,......competition season.