Spring Choral Concert Choir

Each year in the fall semester, Christopher Newport University’s six a cappella singing groups put on a glow-in-the-dark showcase event in the Ferguson Center for the Arts called “Glow in the Darcappella.” These CNU student groups include: Expansion, Extreme Measure, The Newport Pearls, Take Note, Trebled Youth, and University Sounds. This year, the event was held on a Friday night, October 23rd, and was a sold out

On April 26th, I attended the College of Liberal Arts Department of Performance Studies presenting there Small Ensembles Concert. The performance began at 7:30 at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church and the ensemble was coached by David Wilborn. The ensemble included a variety of brass including; a horn trio, a brass trio, a trombone and tape, and a trombone choir. The performers were talented, but I did not care for the pieces that were chosen for the concert.

I chose the genre string quartet and attended a concert at First Presbyterian church on October 19th, 2014. Because of its location the sanctuary where the concert took place had many stained glass windows. It was marvelous and in my opinion well suited the feel of classical music. The audience was very responsive and attentive. They applauded when the musicians appeared, in between pieces, and at the very end. They were quick to join in the sing along portion of the concert. Overall the people attending were an older crowd but you could tell they truly appreciated the music. The concert’s duration was around an

When the concert first began, the three instrumentalists walked with energy despite their age. The first song, “Sonata I in G-Major Op. 2, Nr. 1” by Michel Blavet, was a Baroque Sonata. There were five movements and was played by the harpsichord, flute, and cello. All movements of the song were polyphonic because of the three instruments that had different parts and equal importance. In the first movement, I noticed that the flute tended to rise in pitch. In the second movement, I noticed that the melodies often repeated. Throughout the rest of the song the tempo changed from fast to slow and the flute would usually take the lead. On the last movement, the cello and the harpsichord

East Carolina’s Concert band and Symphonic band performed on Tuesday, February 16, at seven thirty in the evening in Wright Auditorium. Being a duel performance it included over a hundred of my talented East Carolina peers led by outstanding band Directors Dr. Juchniewicz and Dr. Staub. Along with great students and Directors, the show incorporated a beautiful trombone solo performed by a fellow colleague. Although I have never attended a concert where such style of music was being performed, I did enjoy the music being played and most of them sounded as if I heard them before. The professionalism the students portrayed and maintain to the audience was breathtaking and made me honored to be their peers.

There is a fall concert, two Christmas concerts, a spring teacher appreciation concert, a multiple chorus concert (also in the spring), and a pops concert in May. My favorite concert to perform is the pops concert because we are given modern songs with choreography. The best concert to watch is the Christmas concert because we sing such jolly and merry songs and the atmosphere is very alive. Some of the hardest songs the choir has done are songs in different languages; such as Latin, French, Spanish, and German. My least favorite song was a song in Latin because we had to work on it for so long it grew tiresome, but the audience seemed to enjoy the song thoroughly. My favorite songs we have done are Stray Cat Strut, Believe (from the Polar Express), and Carol of the

“Introducing Davenport West Connection!!!” This is how every show choir performance for west connection members starts no matter what the year. Show choir is one of the most fun activities I have ever taken part in. From back in 8th grade Williams Intermediate Show Choir, to now in Davenport West Connection I have loved every minute of it. The people, hair and makeup, performing onstage, and even the practices were full of fun and laughter. Throughout 8th grade to now there is an enormous difference between high school show choir, and middle school show choir causing one to exceed the other. The practice and rehearsals, fundamentals of the performance, and competitions widely contrast one another yet have surprising comparisons which contribute

The first song the Evening choir performed was Michael Carter’s, djembe. The song had many different levels of intensity. At the beginning the song was soft, but gradually became darker. The diction and expression from the artists was excellent as they sang, and you could understand and feel every word they performed. The discipline from the

On December 5th, the University High School Show Choir and Jazz Band performed. The show that the UHS Show Choir put on turned out to be fantastic. There were seven songs that the Show Choir performed, which varied from Ella Fitzgerald as well Broadway Musicals from Anything Goes, Gentleman Prefer Blondes, and Chicago. The first number was a song called “Anything Goes” from the 1934 musical Anything Goes, which was sung by soloist, Madelene Raneses. Madelene has very good potential in her singing as well as dancing. The dancing in this performance was greatly choreographed by Mylan Biltz. Furthermore, the concert moves on with their second number, which was Ella Fitzgerald’s minor, but lovely tune, “I Got Rhythm”. This song was performed

On Tuesday, Feb 28, the NMSU The Statesmen, Women’s Chorale, Chamber Choir, and University Singers presented a show called The Best of All Possible World, conducted by Christa Fredrickson. They performed various works: MADRIGALS, pieces from musicals, an ORGANUM piece, arranged by Fredrickson herself, as well as sacred text compositions and folk songs.

Smithville High School presented two winter concerts. I got the opportunity to view both performances. The first show was by the Vocal Music Department directed by Mr. Marcus Duncan and aided by accompanist Emily Rowland, and the second show was by the Jazz Ensemble and Symphonic Band conducted by Mr. Tom Brockman and Ms. Brittany Terwey. There were very similar aspects of the two concerts and very different aspects of the two concerts.

The road to show choir nationals was a long struggle with many roadblocks. There were many times when I dreaded going to rehearsal, and when I got there, I just wanted it to be over so I could leave. Show choir started to feel like a chore to me and I didn’t enjoy it like I did last year. That is, until March 31st.

This fall concert was a good learning experience for the Women's Choir and myself. I think that each piece had both positive and negative aspects of them and I also think seeing other better choirs perform helped us to know what we want to become and give us the motivation we need to improve.

On November twenty-ninth, I attended APSU Student Recital at the George and Sharon Mabry Concert Hall. The performance consisted of only three pieces, yet both were met with enthusiastic applause and praise. When I attended the performance I hear and seen exactly what I expected which were student performing amongst their peers. This particular performance was different because I never experience a student recital. I was very pleased by the performance I thought it was very entertaining and interesting.

On Sunday, December 4th, I attended the Marquette University Holiday Concert. The concert consisted of the MU Jazz Bands, Chorus, Orchestra, Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble. It was really enjoyable to attend and listen to all different types of mediums of holiday Christmas music. It was really well organized and efficiently structured between all the different groups.