Night 1 Reflection

Music Night 1 - Self Reflection Several months of countless rehearsals along with hard work and dedication result to the Music Department’s showcase of talent in the form of the semesterly Music Nights, which typically mark the end of music extracurriculars for students until the next semester. This semester’s Music Nights, which took place on May 9th and 10th, unfolded in the AY Jackson cafetorium, and were filled with a plethora of unique music and instrumentation. From concertos to choirs, each act was its own different splash of musicality with genres ranging from classical to pop. As a part of Music Night 1, I was a soloist for the Senior Chamber Choir and I will be writing my self reflection on the performance of this ensemble. The
This was a very fun song that we started practicing in November to prepare for the Ontario Vocal Festival, which gave us plenty of time to create an entertaining version of it. A very large part of conveying the upbeat feel of the song was through the dancing that the choir did along with singing, which is something that we struggled to incorporate early on. Coming up with dance moves which were simple enough but appropriate for the song came to be difficult, as each vocal section had different lyrics at each part; we decided upon a simple snapping pattern as well as the dance before the solos. The intro was also given a bigger build up through the lowered heads. Although we initially struggled with dancing and singing, the choir was able to get better with each rehearsal and make sure it was in time. One of the largest problems was the intro, as the basses would constantly come in at the wrong time or with the wrong pitch, causing the tenors to also be off as well; this got better as everyone became more familiar with their parts. Another large part the choir and I struggled with was the rhythm. As we included the snapping, we tended to rush to the point where the ending sounded like we were singing with staccato. We were able to fix this by slowing down the tempo a bit and making sure that we were always looking at Ms. Lee. In terms of my own parts, I had problems with sliding my notes, but it was for a small section so I was able to prevent myself from doing it. I approached my solo at first with the thought of how I could portray the theme of the song well and include my own personal feel to it. The first section of the solo was particularly difficult to sing well as it was in the lower octaves of my range, and those notes typically do not project as well as my higher octaves. I focused on making sure that part was strong, and I decided to make a small change in the melody the second time I sang it to make