JOINING A CHOIR

唱诗班里的快乐

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.

我向来热爱唱歌，但歌唱并没有一直都回应着我的爱。当艾瑞莎·弗兰克林的歌在我的脑海中回响的时候，我会开口歌唱，满心期待着我的嗓音能够还原脑海中的声音，但我那不堪入耳的歌声却让我备受打击。

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.

不过我仍然坚持不懈，对唱歌充满热情。只要一有机会，我就会开口唱歌。在我的孩子还小的时候(他们现在20多岁了)，每当我跟着汽车收音机的音乐唱歌时，他们就会做出痛苦的表情，双手捂着耳朵，大叫：“妈妈快别唱了!”

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

幸运的是，我有很多玩得很疯的朋友，当中就有很会唱歌的。

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.

其中有一对夫妇，妻子在纽约组过乐队，担任主唱。和他们共度周末的时候，她会拿上吉他，带上我到另一个房间里，然后我们会唱上好几个小时，全是詹姆斯·泰勒和披头士的歌。那是我周末最快乐的时光。

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.

当时的我从来没想过会加入教堂的唱诗班，就像我从来不会考虑去教堂负责敲钟一样。15年前，当我真的第一次加入唱诗班的时候，加雷思·马龙还名不见经传呢。

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.

我感觉到了我的声音既是独立的，又与其他成员形成和声，融为一体。那一刻，我完全着迷了，就像堕入爱河一样。

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

唱诗班里的每一个人脸上都挂着朦胧的微笑，两眼发亮——唱歌也让他们感到了快乐。

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.

我的快乐源于唱歌，但唱诗班这个集体也功不可没。一起呼吸的感觉十分奇妙，如此多的声音一起静静地歌唱，充满了力量和神秘感，这是一种灵魂的感受。

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.

我们还为慈善事业筹钱，有时会去鲜有访客、缺乏生气的地方唱歌，从中我们还建立起了深厚的友谊，这是我没有预料过的。

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.

我现在加入了六个唱诗班，如果可以的话，我每一天都会唱歌。我永远不会有艾瑞莎的嗓音，但当我站在舞台上面对着几百个观众时，我知道哪怕我们的歌不是每一段都好听，但总有那么几首歌是不赖的。