I’m a freshman in high school, and so far, my grades are really good (nothing lower than an A). I do have aspirations to be valedictorian later in high school. Currently, I’m enrolled in Chorus. I love singing and I love chorus, but I’m not very good at it. We currently don’t have any grades in yet.
In Chorus, assessments are worth 40% of your grade. This is when you meet with the director and sing a piece for him. Since I am not a good singer, I don’t expect to get a good grade on these assessments. Not only that, but I take a Dual Enrollment Class at a local college, and the final is scheduled for the same date as my winter choral concert (I can’t make it to the concert, as the final is also in the evening). The same might apply for in the spring. At my school, if you miss a concert (with notice), you have to write a 2-page-essay and sing the pieces solo for him. I feel this could be detrimental to my choral grade and GPA, especially since chorus is weighted as “academic.” A girl on my cheer team failed chorus last year, which messed up her GPA big-time, and I fear that the same could apply to me.
If I drop chorus by Tuesday, I would get a W on my transcript. If I did lit later, I would get a WF. I could request to Audit, despite being late because I do have an extenuating circumstance which I did not realize before (our professor only recently gave us the final dates, etc.). My school probably wouldn’t let me Audit it, though as we have some pretty weird policies regarding it.
So, my question is: would it be detrimental to drop chorus and get a “W” (I would not drop it if I would get a WF)? It is only my freshman year, I can’t even perform because of my dual enrollment classes, and I have plenty of other extracurriculars (Varsity Cheerleading, Varsity Math Team, etc.)
Have you asked the community college instructor if you can take the final exam early? Perhaps you can come in right after school on that day and someone in the department can proctor it for you. Never hurts to ask.
Have you talked to your HS teacher about your concerns with grades? If you’re worried about how good your singing is, you could also ask the chorus instructor to clarify their exact expectations. Being a freshmen, they probably aren’t expecting you to be perfect. Try to get some clarification on what you need to do for the class (just participation/knowing the words and pitches, learn to sing scales, etc.) and practice that like it’s homework for any other class. In my experience, a lot of HS teachers are pretty understanding about stuff like this.
In my opinion, High School should be more about expanding one’s horizons over trying to become Valedictorian.
If you love singing and love the comraderie of the Chorus, then find a way to stay in. Talk to the professor of the DE class about the possibility of scheduling the final at a different time. Talk to your Chorus director about other possibilities. Talk to them about the likelihood of failing…the cheer person may have not done the concert and blown off the paper…you have no idea.
You need to go talk to your chorus director. Like now. Make sure you really understand the expectations.
It needs a face to face talk.
Directors want different things. Especially for a chorus experience
. Very few people have “the voice”. In fact, those people don’t make it in choruses sometimes because they don’t blend with others. The person willing to work, expand their horizons, and be open to criticism with the ability to learn is the ideal for most directors. (and yeah, at least a decent ear).
Joy in singing shows up in the voice.
If your director only wants “the best singers” drop it now.
If he wants to hear you sing solo to help mold you and open you up–go for it. You can learn a lot very fast.
And think about how much you want to pursue chorus and singing And why.
Do you want to do it in college? This is the time to learn.
I unfortunately can’t tell you what to decide even though I was once in your very shoes.
Our HS chorus was wonderful and so was the director. At the time though he would only give a “C” to any newbie and then a “B” and then you could earn "A"s after that. Very arbitrary but everyone knew it upfront.
I didn’t join even though I loved to sing, had friends in the chorus and would have very much benefited from it.
At times I regret not joining but I can’t blame myself for wanting to maintain a hard fought GPA.
One HUGE difference is I was a junior in HS. If I’d done it as a freshman it would have been easier.
To this very day I don’t know if I blame him or me more on not joining.
In college I wanted to join a chorus but would have been truly behind in so many respects because I hadn’t been in HS chorus. Missed opportunity that I really didn’t see coming.
Never fear! I’m in chorus now so many years later (and for many years too) and love it. There are wonderful opportunities for singing no matter what level you may be at no matter where you are in life. Community groups, church, barbershop groups.