The Choir Audition
9UNITED STATESSHORT STORY
Grace
2/11/20261 min read
Grace loved singing at home.
She sang while sweeping, while doing homework, and while helping her aunt prepare food.
At school, she sang quietly.
When the music teacher announced choir auditions, Grace wrote her name down and then immediately regretted it.
The audition took place after school.
Students waited outside the music room, humming scales and comparing songs.
Grace’s hands became cold.
When her turn arrived, she stood beside the piano and forgot the first line.
The teacher waited.
Grace tried again. Her voice cracked.
She stopped.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You may begin once more.”
Grace shook her head and left.
The next morning, the choir list appeared.
Her name was not on it.
Grace told everyone she no longer wanted to join.
During lunch, the music teacher found her.
“You did not finish the audition.”
“I was bad.”
“You were frightened.”
“That made me bad.”
The teacher disagreed and offered another audition without an audience.
Grace returned after school.
This time, she faced the wall instead of the teacher. She sang the whole song.
The teacher invited her to join the junior choir.
At the first rehearsal, Grace stood in the back row.
She discovered that choir singing felt different from solo singing. Other voices surrounded hers. When she became uncertain, she could follow them.
Weeks later, the choir performed at assembly.
Halfway through the second song, the girl beside Grace became dizzy and sat down.
A gap opened in the harmony.
Grace sang louder.
Her voice shook, but it held the note.
Afterward, the teacher asked whether Grace wanted a short solo in the next concert.
Grace did not answer immediately.
She was still afraid.
But fear had stopped meaning no.
“Yes,” she said. “A very short one.”