Senior finds her voice through singing

On weekdays after school, senior Karen Chen can be found in a variety of places: in the Large Gym smashing a badminton birdie into her opponent’s face; in the MAP lab, laughing with her peers as she edits an animation for her senior project; or in front of her desk, singing along to either Beyoncé or Pentatonix as she finishes her homework late at night.

Karen began her singing career at age 6, when her mother recognized her daughter’s aptitude for music, from Chinese nursery rhymes to the ABC’s.

“My mom noticed that I liked to sing a lot. Maybe she thought I was a prodigy,” Karen said. “But it was one of the things I was loud and proud about, so my mom made the genius decision to send me to choir to put my love of music and singing to good use.”

Thus, Karen joined Crystal Children’s Choir, a youth choir that has branches throughout the Bay Area. She has sung mezzo soprano with the group for the past 11 years as a member of the youth women’s choir as well as the highest level youth choir, often practicing six hours a week.

In addition, Karen became part of an all-girls a cappella group, The Pitches, two years ago. The Pitches is made up of five Crystal Choir singers. As Karen explained, the group serves as proof that “girls can still have the range to cover bass and the talent to beatbox,” two traditionally male roles.

“I like being able to sing a broader range of songs and voice parts,” Karen said. “I also have sung the solo parts for a few songs and that's helped me build up my self-confidence as a singer.”

As an a cappella singer, Karen faced a variety of challenges, including overcoming her naturally shy disposition.

“When I just started a cappella, a major difference was that there was only one person covering each harmony so I had to adjust to be able to fit with the sound of a smaller group without being too soft or overpowering,” she said. “I'm usually too quiet, so the other members would have to keep reminding me to sing out when I first joined.”

But in the past two years of singing with The Pitches, Karen has learned to be proud of her voice.

This confidence allowed her to perform in this year’s production of Bombay in the Bay as one of the singing acts, her first time performing in front of a large group of her friends from school.

“I didn't want to mess up, and I wanted to do well for the audience and my fellow performers,” Karen said. “But I had complete faith that we could do well because I trusted the other performers and I knew that we had worked very hard to put together our set.”

Looking ahead to college, Karen said she hopes to join an a cappella group as a communications major at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

“Expressing myself through song has been a source guidance, and I have faith that singing will continue to provide a sense of comfort no matter what life throws my way,” Karen said.