JOINING A CHOIR

唱詩班里的快樂

By Ginny Dougary

金妮·道格利

I’ve always loved singing, but singing hasn’t always loved me. I would open my mouth with an Aretha Franklin song in my head, fully expecting my voice to follow suit - only to be betrayed by a tremuloustravesty.

我向來熱愛唱歌，但歌唱并沒有一直都回應著我的愛。當艾瑞莎·弗蘭克林的歌在我的腦海中回響的時候，我會開口歌唱，滿心期待著我的嗓音能夠還原腦海中的聲音，但我那不堪入耳的歌聲卻讓我備受打擊。

Still, doggedly, devotedly, I continued to attempt to sing whenever possible. On car journeys, when my now twentysomething sons were small, they would make a great play (hands over their ears, shrieking ’No, Mum, stop!’) of being tortured as I sang along to the radio.

不過我仍然堅持不懈，對唱歌充滿熱情。只要一有機會，我就會開口唱歌。在我的孩子還小的時候(他們現在20多歲了)，每當我跟著汽車收音機的音樂唱歌時，他們就會做出痛苦的表情，雙手捂著耳朵，大叫：“媽媽快別唱了!”

Fortunately, I have had fellow carousers in my life - some of whom could really sing.

幸運的是，我有很多玩得很瘋的朋友，當中就有很會唱歌的。

The highlight of weekends with one couple was when the wife (who had sung with a band in New York) would lift up her guitar and beckon me into another room, where we would sing James Taylor and Beatles songs for hours.

其中有一對夫婦，妻子在紐約組過樂隊，擔任主唱。和他們共度周末的時候，她會拿上吉他，帶上我到另一個房間里，然后我們會唱上好幾個小時，全是詹姆斯·泰勒和披頭士的歌。那是我周末最快樂的時光。

Back then, I would no more have considered joining a choir than taking up bell-ringing. And when I did eventually become a member of my first choir 15 years ago, it was long before Gareth Malone was a household name.

當時的我從來沒想過會加入教堂的唱詩班，就像我從來不會考慮去教堂負責敲鐘一樣。15年前，當我真的第一次加入唱詩班的時候，加雷思·馬龍還名不見經傳呢。

But from the moment I experienced my voice as something singular but also unified, in harmony with the other singers, I was hooked. It was like falling in love.

我感覺到了我的聲音既是獨立的，又與其他成員形成和聲，融為一體。那一刻，我完全著迷了，就像墮入愛河一樣。

And everyone in the choir had the same slightly dazed smiles and bright eyes - singing made them feel happy, too.

唱詩班里的每一個人臉上都掛著朦朧的微笑，兩眼發亮——唱歌也讓他們感到了快樂。

Although it is singing itself that makes me happy, it is also the communality of a choir. There is something magical about breathing together; a mass of voices singing quietly together is powerful and thrillingly mysterious, almost spiritual.

我的快樂源于唱歌，但唱詩班這個集體也功不可沒。一起呼吸的感覺十分奇妙，如此多的聲音一起靜靜地歌唱，充滿了力量和神秘感，這是一種靈魂的感受。

And there’s the unexpected camaraderie from the activities we do as a choir, raising money for good causes and taking our singing sometimes to places where people are forgotten and sad.

我們還為慈善事業籌錢，有時會去鮮有訪客、缺乏生氣的地方唱歌，從中我們還建立起了深厚的友誼，這是我沒有預料過的。

I am now a member of six choirs and, if I can, sing every day of the week. I will never sound like Aretha, but I stand on a stage in front of several hundred people and know that some, if not all, of each song will sound not bad at all.

我現在加入了六個唱詩班，如果可以的話，我每一天都會唱歌。我永遠不會有艾瑞莎的嗓音，但當我站在舞臺上面對著幾百個觀眾時，我知道哪怕我們的歌不是每一段都好聽，但總有那么幾首歌是不賴的。