John Wells posted a comment to my previous post, and since I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd insert it here to make sure you see it.
I was just thinking this afternoon and thought i'd share this....
It seemed to me that in the past two rehearsals everyone (myself included) was much less energetic, excited, and committed than usual...
Perhaps we're just getting back into the "groove of things" for the semester and it was like this at the beginning of last semester. i hope that's the case.. And hey, it could've been the snow!
At any rate, we set forth a precedence of excellence for ourselves last semester, and now must live up to it for ourselves, our university, and those that come in contact with it.
I've noticed the same thing and attribute it to two things:
1. Weather: It's amazing how gray, dreary days can affect your energy. I have major seasonal affect myself and don't enjoy cloudy days AT ALL! And then we come into a chapel sanctuary with walls painted like a gray, dreary day....double whammy! I try as hard as possible not to let that interfere with my work as a conductor, and I hope that my weather issues didn't influence your energy level negatively.
2. Recording: Recording sessions are much more energy-consuming than ordinary rehearsals or concerts. Take after take of the same chunk of music can be tedious and exhausting, and it's hard to get a sense of what the end product will be. Plus you've been singing this music since August!
While realizing the causes, we also realize that we have to work harder collectively to keep the same level of energy on these low-energy days that we have in concerts. The word is out that Lambuth has the best university choral program in the region, and we don't want our singing this semester to alter that conception.
'Nuff said....y'all are great...let's keep moving forward!
1 comment:
I totally agree. Another topic that needs to be brought up is how much we have progressed from not having folders when we perform. It feels like performing the music without folders has bumped us up a couple of levels profressionally. We are able to do alot more things dynamically that we couldn't have done when we had folders. The intensity level has also moved up too.
This Moses Hogan piece can eat us alive if we don't prepare ourselves. Right now, some of you might agree that this piece might be beyond our performance level. That might be the case for now but it is very reachable if we are very serious about learning not just the notes but aspects like the setting, the tone, and the emotion of what this piece means.
It's when a choir can go far beyond the music into a realm where we are the story. We are the song. Sounds weird but this is what separates us from mediocre college choirs. How well can you be the music?
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