That's My Spotlight | ✔

iii. folie à deux

INEZ ARCHER WAS A PRACTICAL POP STAR IN THE MAKING. Or maybe R&B. Hip hop might've suited her well. But the point is, she could sing. 

Her voice is so angelic to the point where she hit every note in tune, even if it was on the higher side. Inez's voice was so divine to the point where it was bone-chilling. You could ask the girl to sing almost anything in tune and she will. That's how angelic her singing voice actually was.

No, Inez was not a professional. She wasn't perfect either. But she was pretty damn close. She just had a gift in singing, which she adored and cherished very much.

The second day of school in Advanced Mixed Chorus was a rough day, as Dr. Terry got the choir to begin singing one of their songs, Maybe I'm Amazed. Instead of picking and choosing two students to do the duet, she allowed everyone to sing every single part, closely observing each student's voices — differentiating if they sung it with passion and expression or with no interest whatsoever. She also determined if their vocals were at least decent or if they weren't right where they should've been.

To Dr. Terry, there were many wonderful voices in her choir, but the one that stuck out to her most was Inez's voice, especially when she got the choir to sing the duet. Even if it was her second day in class, she was there to impress, not to sit back. When the choir reached mid-song, Dr. Terry stopped the choir mid-sentence from singing, as well as the soundtrack blasting from the room's speakers. 

On a notepad, the teacher made quick notes, mainly of people she'd consider for certain choral parts. Things like these were worth writing down for future reference, so Dr. Terry always had her notepad with her during classes. When she was through with taking notes, she placed it on top of her baby grand piano, which stood at the front of her classroom. 

"Alright," Dr. Terry cleared her throat as she motioned the class to sit down since they were standing up. She always insisted that her students should stand up to project their voices better. Students tend to always slouch back with a curved posture while singing in one way or another, so she had to put a stop to that. Plus, she thought that it gave the choir more expression while singing. "It's only the second day back, so I get that you all aren't used to the song yet, which is fine, but I've heard you all sing, and you're off to a great start, which we can continue to work on." 

The choir exchanged excited glances at each other, waiting for any other possible good news. Dr. Terry acknowledged that, so she continued as she cleared her throat. "It has not been decided who will sing the duet, but I will let you all know next week, since the concert is approaching soon." She continued, planting her hands on her hips. "I know this is all on short notice, but this concert was scheduled by Berkeley Middle School, which is down the road. We will be presenting our school's Fine Arts program to them, so we need to hustle so we can do the best we can. Any questions?"

Inez Archer's hand shot up into the air. "When will we have to start paying for our Chorus dues. And when will we start doing after school rehearsals?"

"Chorus dues pay for your gowns and tuxedos, possible field trips, and regular chorus T-shirts, so I will have to follow-up with the school for that information, but you all should be able to start paying for them on the school app by tomorrow," Dr. Terry assured with a nod. "And we will have after school rehearsals in the school theater at least twice, two weeks prior to the concert."

Inez nodded her head at the response with satisfaction. Dr. Terry looked around the classroom in case anyone else had questions, but no other student had their hands up, so she chose to move on. The teacher took a look at her copy of the sheet music for Maybe I'm Amazed. Her papers were filled with various notes, highlights, and markings of places she wanted the choir to work on.