All State Chorus Failure Essay

Failure is not characterized by what is lost, but instead by the lessons one learns from the experience. An area of my life in which I’ve faced many struggles has been music. Ever since a young age, I have been truly passionate about music; from singing, to dancing, to playing piano and percussion. Nothing makes me happier than succeeding in something I care about, but often it is extremely difficult to achieve musical honors due to the exceptionally talented competition. Two years in a row, I failed to make the Iowa All-State Chorus. While I would’ve prefered to accomplish my goal and make the prestigious choir, the life lessons I took away from the experience were significantly more important.
At the beginning of my junior year, I decided to try out for the All-State Chorus. My motivations to make the chorus were more meaningful than most; They were not simply based on …show more content…
My nerves and anxiety had passed; I stood tall, confident in my abilities and all the preparations I had done for the audition. Afterwards, I was very proud of my performance, but I didn’t know if it was enough to earn a seat in the ensemble. Upon finding out that I did not make it into the choir, I was crushed. I felt like my months of hard work had been ruined and I would be a disappointment to my family. I vowed that I wouldn’t waste my time with auditioning for the chorus again the next year.
However, after much thought, senior year I chose again to audition. Over the past year, I had noticed how much my musical skills had improved. Singing with others gave me a better ear for intonation, and additionally, I had found that my sight reading skills and singing range had gotten better. I decided that my goal for the next year was to work even harder, always keeping in sight the final audition, but to not be upset if I didn’t make the choir. Participating in All-State became less about the competition, and more about improving myself and my