Last night I went to my youngest brother’s chorus concert. I have an older sister and three younger brothers, and we all took chorus class in high school. For one thing, the class was an easy A. Chorus is all about participation, and honestly, there were probably students in the class who just lip synced the whole time but still made a good grade. We all need that GPA booster.

The other thing was that my siblings and I grew up singing. We were always in church choirs and singing at home. I mean, there were five of us — the perfect number for a singing group (The Temptations, The Jackson 5, Nsync, the Spice Girls — all had five members).

But chorus was always more than just an easy A for me, and I think it is that way for many other students as well.

There is nothing like walking off the stage knowing that all of the hard work you put in paid off.

It’s not just chorus that gives students that feeling. They get that feeling in theater class after perfecting their lines, stage directions and gestures and then being able to perform what they worked so hard on in front of an audience. They may even get it in art class, when after sketching, painting and sculpting, they are finally able to present their work in an art show or school wall.

So when I hear that there are people out there who want to take the arts out of the schools, what they are taking out is the magic.

There is something about people having to work together to create one product that is special. I worked with people in chorus that I would have never even thought to talk to outside of that class. We were all so different; we came from different backgrounds and lifestyles. We did not hang out in the same cliques or eat lunch together. But when it came to chorus, we set aside those differences and worked together to make beautiful music.

In the end, it did not matter what we were singing about necessarily. It did not matter who got solos and who was singing in the background. It was about the music — doing the piece well for the sake of the music. When we got the song just right and were all in perfect synchrony, it was magic.

Classes like chorus and theater may seem useless to some people. I can see their point of view. How can singing and acting help you in real life? Making a career out of singing or acting is risky; you need to focus on the practical stuff — reading, writing and arithmetic. And of course those subjects are important.

I did not take chorus because I wanted to make a career out of singing. I joined because I loved to sing. I kept taking the class every year because of that feeling at the end of a great concert — that feeling of accomplishment and pride. I did not get that feeling when I passed a math test. When I passed a math test, I felt relief; when I walked off the stage of a chorus concert, I felt like I was walking on air.

Students deserve to experience that feeling, and for many students, they can only find that in the arts. Everyone does not find that joy of accomplishment in math or science. We can’t all get the cheers that football or basketball players get.

For some of us, the arts are the only was we can get that standing ovation.