Choir Notes-Singer Focus

Singer Focus-Mike White
I started singing in the summer before 5th grade. I had auditioned for the school choir in 4th grade and I was not selected - I was not happy about it. That summer, I joined the youth choir at my church to learn how to sing, and made the school choir the following year. I was also playing in the school band, so music just became part of my life. My band teacher told me I had a good ear and could pick things up quickly. The summer before 7th grade, my mother enrolled me in summer school to improve my reading, and I took Musical Theater as one of my electives. I played Tommy Albright in Brigadoon. That was the first time I got to sing a solo, and it was the first time I had to kiss a girl.

​After that production, I fell in love with singing and performing. I sang in the after-school choir and performed in shows all through Junior High and High School. I picked band as my elective and took up the alto saxophone and the flute. In high school, I was a self-proclaimed band geek and even became the drum major of the Oak Grove High School Golden Eagle Marching Band. I performed in the school musical every year and even got to play my hero – Charlie Brown – in one show. In college, I took a voice class for fun and started singing in a choir again. Phil Boyer is the reason I started singing with the CGS choirs. After a separation with my then partner, I started singing with Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus to make some new friends. As luck would have it, I got placed next to Phil and he invited me to sing at CGS because they needed another baritone for a Christmas song they were going to perform. I was so flattered that Phil invited, it wasn’t until a month later that I realized that he was really setting me up with my future husband – Rey Lambatin. They had to bring in another voice to help with my part.

Both of the CGS choirs have become my musical home. I love singing with the Keynotes – it is an amazing brotherhood to be a part of. The mixed choir is my small family, and I love singing with the ladies. It will probably upset them for me to tell everyone this, but it is like having my mom around. My parents live in Montana now, and I don’t get to see them much. So, I consider the ladies of the choir my second mom.

Singing is work, but it is also a lot of fun. Something very special happens when a group of people sing together. Nothing compares to the feeling when your voices blend to produce beautiful inspiration to those that are listening. My heart is filled when I sing. Everyone should give it a try.

(Editor’s note-if you want to give it a try, the mixed choir rehearses every Thursday @ 7pm here at CGS, come check it out!)
 

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