After decades of trying to make my own voice small, to blend in with a choir or chorus, I decided I was done. So when I joined a new church several years ago, I just sang for the joy of singing, not trying to hide in the miasma of other voices. I ignored the fact that every head whipped around to see where that voice was coming from. After the service was over, half a dozen people told me I should join the choir. One finally took me by the hand and physically dragged me to meet the choir director.
A few months later, I was introduced to a substitute pianist in church as one of the choir members. The pianist asked me what I sang, and before I could say “soprano,” the pastor introducing me said “Loud. She sings really, really loud.” She then turned to me and said, “That’s not what she meant, is it?”