Lessons(417)

          The end of the season is a very emotional time for all the students involvement in the show choir program, but most of all, it is emotional for the seniors. As of this very day the is nothing like show choir in college besides choir. So this is a chapter in their book coming to an end, and depending on the type of season they have had that may be hard to cope with. And with my show choir career coming to an end, I thought this would be a good time to write about what show choir can teach you, but what it has definitely has taught me. 

           It has taught me to persevere through tough times. There are practices that would have people wanting to pull their hair out. People having disagreements about the most trivial dance moves could cause a riot in the whole group. So it taught me how to get through situations that are very annoying. There were also times when the results wouldn't be what we wanted but we couldn't just quite after that. We had to keep going, we had no choice. I'm glad we did though, it has made so many great experiences. One more way it has taught me to persevere is; my sophomore year I didn't make it into show choir, but not making it caused me to just work my butt off to make it the next year. 

          It's taught me that it's not all about winning. I know, it's cliche, but there is no other sport or activity that taught me this lesson more, especially this year. There were a few performances that we got off stage and fly like such a close group that had performed their hearts out that it wasn't necessary to win. We did not care. We liked that we got to perform as a group. 

           It taught me how to b a part of a team. In most sports if a person is missing, it's not very noticeable. A coach would just put a different kid in, but in show choir you can't do that so much. We all have certain spots and certain partners. If someone is missing it is noticeable. So you have to be a huge team player. You also have to boost your teammates up. 

           Show choir is not just an activity. It teaches kids how to get through tough times, how to persevere, and many more lessons, a teacher could never teach in a classroom. 

The parent show (395)

                The parent show. It's a loved tradition at my high school. The parents o all happiness,our varsity show choir, members get together and under the direction of junior leaders do a parody of our show. Although that was a bit hard this year because our theme was war. They wanted to make sure not to make fun of war or patriotism but to make fun of our show.  

                Let us start with parents that are supporters, biological parents that is. Many people who accept a Grammy or Oscar thank their parents, this is the least they can do to express how thankful they should be. Parents are always there to be an emotional rock for their child. Their child could bring them any problem they are having, any problem at all and they make it better, or not so bad. They also know their childs health better then the child himself. Not to mention the financial stress performing arts puts on kids. Yet through all this they still support their child no matter what.

                Show Choir moms in my choir are simply called “Mama.” I don’t think there is a more fitting name for them, since our show choir is a family. They take care of getting information out, organizing committees, costumes, make up, hair choice, and little things here and there. This is a lot to put on just a few people. They come to our competitions, no matter how far away it is. They find lost items. They remind us to stay hydrated. They have two downfalls; their own children, and emotions. Although there are new kids every year the moms still get attached to the kids in the show choirs now so when they leave the moms of course feel sad.

                Dads! Dads are the muscle and technical brain to almost everything, not just show choir. They help set up the stage so we don’t go over our time. They also help tear down after the performance. And unlike moms they are back stage so they can help with costume changes zipping up girl’s dresses and pointing out boys untucked shirts.

                Without parents most show choirs would have no set, no costumes, no one to go to when someone gets hurt, and no emotional support.  Parents are the core of show choir and without them there would not be a good show. 

Auditions(478)

One thing that makes people turn away from trying out for performing arts, such as show choir and musicals, is the actual try out. Which I admit can be very nerve wracking.  When I tried out for my sophomore year I did not make show choir. I always blamed the fact that I wasn’t good at auditioning. My voice would shake, I would be scatter brained, and I would think way too much. These are all things you should definitely avoid if possible. You should try to come across as calm, cool, and collected. Although this is tough for some people most of the time it can be managed.

            For the purpose of this blog I will be speaking about show choir auditions because they have to listen to you and watch you dance. My personal feeling is that the singing is more stressful then the dancing.  There are ways to prepare for the singing audition. First, pick a song and practice it, over and over again. Try to find someone who will listen to you, this takes away the stage fright, they also could provide helpful feedback. Another piece of advice would be; don’t practice too much, of course this isn’t a problem with the dancing. If you practice the vocals too much you get set on that one way to say it. So much so that if you do happen to make a mistake during the actual audition that is all you are thinking about, not what you are singing at that moment. One more thing to help your voice out a bit is to drink tea with lemon and honey, it coats the throat with lubrication. This is also helpful when you have a sore throat.

            The dance audition is less crazy because you learn it, you dance it, and you are done. First you have to learn the dance, when learning the dance make sure to pay close attention to details, like if the choreographers hand is in a blade or a fist. If you know this and someone else doesn’t, it could be the difference between making the group you want and not. Picking out key moves can also help your score. Although it may not be like this for all choreographers I know mine has moves that are his favorites, and when he teaches them it shows. If you give 100% to the whole dance, you should give 110% to those specific moves. Facials is one thing they also look at. Smile. Smile. Smile. Having good facials is very important. They know that they can tech a kid to dance, they don’t know if they can make him perform.

            The best advice I can give is to do whatever you have to do to be confident. Be confident in your song choice, in your voice strength, and also be confident with yourself. 

Leaving(466)

Being a teenager is a hard job in itself, throw in graduation and you have your self one stressed out person. Not only Are people thinking about going away from their friends but they are also thinking about stoping their activities for the year. 

          With the growing up, losing friends and loved ones, new emotions, and trying to be decently behaved in public. Not even mentioning school, or jobs, or family life, or extracurricular activities, or even friendships. Adults tend to ask a lot of teenagers now-a-days, but when does it become too much? I believe that it is good to push kids to be the best they can be, but if people push too hard it will cause stress and emotional damage to someone who is still learning to be a functional human being.

            At school I’m busy from 7 am until 3 pm. 8 hours of just absorbing new information, each night I would say I have a few hours of homework, probably about three hours. And after school I have practice for show choir, which isn’t that bad now, because it is preseason practice, but once we hit the competition season it will be chaotic. I feel bad for people in cross country or swimming because a lot of the time two practices will overlap and they would have to go one to the next. And of course jobs. After school jobs are great but they just add another activity that you need to fit into a schedule. With all this time taken up where do you put hanging out with friends or spending time with family?

            I believe that one of the reasons people who work a lot, or people who are super busy get more stressed out, and tent to have anxiety, is because they don’t have time to just talk with their friends or tell their parents or siblings about their day. Because of this lack of communication there can be conflicts in homes, causing more stress then before.

            A good friend of mine told me she had a conversation with her vocal teacher about just this subject. Her vocal teacher, Mrs. Elliot, had told her that in today’s society there is too much pressure put on kids to pick the right college, hang out with the right friends, join all sorts of clubs, and get a job. Mrs. Elliot said that when she was a teenager they let you be kids. I’ve read before that teenage students today have the same stress levels as psych ward patients did in 1950. And I totally believe it. It seems to me that in the 50s kids worried more about what poodle skirt they were going to wear then what college they were going to attend. Read more about stress here: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/01/its_not_the_job_market.html

Bring itto show choir.495

                “Do you have some bobby pins I could borrow?” someone says while holding her hair in position “Yeah sure check my bag.”

                “Does anyone have any hairspray?” Someone asks frantically, “Yeah get it from my bag over there!”

                So you forgot something while going to a show choir competition. Something vital, like hair spray or bobby pins, or make up. (Oh my) well have no fear your companions and classmates are here. Anything that you have misplaced I’m sure someone is bound to have one. But for now I thought I would share what I believe everyone should carry in their bags and things to have “just in case.”

                First, a water bottle. Staying hydrated while you’re eating unhealthy food and performing your heart out is a must.  Sweating could lead to de hydration, and performing two shows while not feeling well could result in some serious medical issues.

                Second, a change of clothes. Some show choirs dress up and in that case it would always be a good idea to have another pair of pants ready. Other show choirs wear jackets or tee shirts. Most of the time kids come in sweatpants and sweatshirts, anything to stay warm in these cold months, but after you get done performing under 1000 watt light bulbs and you are sweating all your make up off you might want something a little more summer like to wear. I suggest a pair of athletic shorts and a tee shirt. Then if you get cold after all the adrenaline is gone you can just layer up with those sweats.

                Third, make up. My show choir supplies make up for us but that might not be the case with all choirs. At the very least they don’t supply you with skin make up like cover up and concealer so you have to bring that yourself.  Some girls like to put it on even before going to the competition so as to not be seen without make up but I would still take it in case you start to break out or burn your forehead. (a personal experience of mine.) I would also bring my own eye liner and mascara and fake eyelashes because even if your choir provides that for you, you probably have better ones at home.

                Fourth, money. There is a lot to by at show choir competitions. From food to buttons to shirts, and everything costs money.

                Fifth, hair supplies. By know you know that show choirs need to look uniform and also have the same hairstyle, to do that hair style it might take half a can of hair spray and 50 bobby pins but you still have to do it. So I always bring a teasing brush, hair spray, bobby pins, and a straighter or curling iron. These few things are basics of show choir hair.

                With these things in your show choir bag you should be set for a full day of dancing and singing.0) 

auditioning(402)

No matter what you are into, sports, singing, dancing, or anything really there will always be a time when you just get so nervous you feel like you are going to throw up and you are going over things in your head over and over and over again. Your palms start to sweat, and the rest of your body fallows soon after. I am speaking, of course, of when you have to audition or try out for a spot on the team or to be part of the group. Auditioning and trying out can be the most nerve wracking parts of the year for anything. In my school you have to try out for show choir every year, and any plays or musicals you want to be a part of, if you want to be an actual performer.

            Auditions for show choir at my school are called “Blind Auditions.” This is because the directors sit behind our costume “cows;” large boxes on wheels we use for our costumes during the show, so they can not see you. Until you sing. You walk in, sign a sheet next to a number so the directors can match up your scores later, and sing “my country tis of thee.” If they want they have you sing a second song of your own choice. People tend to get really worked up about how much they had to sing thinking too far into it. It could me quite a few things; that they don’t like your voice, which they are thinking about you for a higher choir, they might even be thinking about you for a special or jazz choir. No one really knows except the directors. Then after that you have the dance audition. After that you wait for a month and see if you made the choirs you wanted.

To try out for musicals and plays you sing for the directors and musical directors.  There can be dancing and there could not be. There is always an acting part of an audition. This I personally to be the hardest part of the whole audition. It can be awkward with people you don’t know so well. Some thing I do to help get ready for this audition is read over the lines the directors give you with my parents or my sister. You could also do it with any one at your house that is willing. 

Rude433

People can be so rude sometimes. Dealing with competition in any form can be difficult. Other people can be ruthless and mean and spread rumors every which way.  Now In head to head sports you can be so mad you literally tackle the guy that you believe has started the rumor, or are your competition. Which is a perfectly fine way to deal with it; let it fuel you.  In show choir and other competitive performing arts we need to be a little more creative.

As you probably would have guessed, tackling someone on stage is a very frowned upon by coaches and many members of the audience. But so is talking about other show choirs badly.  My director makes it a point each year to tell us that we represent not only ourselves but also our show choir and our high school. That doesn’t stop people and performers from other schools from talking bad about us though. They may say things like they don’t like our costumes or that they thought we didn’t sing a certain part right. And when you hear that it is kind of like a blow to the chest, because you have been working your butt off to make a great performance, and all they noticed were the bad things. This is where the competitive nature comes in. You want to turn around and look that guy in the eyes and say “Listen here bud, that was a great performance.” And maybe add a few choice words. But, you can’t. It would reflect badly, and that’s how to get more fuel to the fire.

A way to deal with competition for show choir is to put one hundred percent of your energy into your performance. More than likely there would be a moody or dark song that one could act totally mad at the world, and use the competition to drive that anger. But how do you use anger, during a happy song? Well, I’ll tell you! You obviously can’t let that emotion show on your face, or it would ruin that whole song, which would just make you even angrier, which might ruin another song; it is a cruel cycle really. Well using anger in a happy song just takes a little bit of thought. First, you think how angry they made you, then you think about how good it would feel to get a score better than their group, then you think about how to do that, and then you realize that you have to at least act totally happy to win. And there you go.