This December 8th, my first chorus concert as a singer in WHS Chorus, was a blizzard of

excitement. However the freezing rain and sleeting weather didn’t stop our choir from

preforming an excellent winter concert at St. Marks United Methodist Church. The doors were

unlocked a little after five, letting the cold and damp students inside to warmup both ourselves

and our voices. After running through as much as was possible of where to go and what to do

before the concert, most everyone was able to take a sigh of relief or at least another deep breath

as stress heightened. And then, as we walked down the aisles of the church, the concert started.

For Treble Choir, the strongest song was Velvet Shoes because as a group we were most

confident and had practiced the most on this song. I could hear the alto part and the soprano part

clearly, and on page 7 both voice sections achieved a nice gradual diminuendo. The dynamics

were shaped to create phrasing and fluidly between both parts without being to overpowering.

Also, while I couldn’t see everyone’s faces, this song had the most developed facial expressions.

As a group we had developed a clear mental imagery in our head of what the words mean both in

the English and poetry, as well as in our own head’s personal imagery. This allowed us to create

the deepest emotional connections and express the song both vocally and visually. The

consonants were best on page 8, delivering a clear and crisp as the entire choir articulated in

measure 61 before fading in a decrescendo to pianississimo.

In contrast, Dormi, Dormi, Bel Bambin was the weakest song. As a group we were least

confident in the different parts, I could not clearly hear all the parts especially from page 8 to 10.

It started strongly from page 3 and 4 but the quality only decreased from there on. The Italian

pronunciation was not done as well as it had been done before and the English portion on page 8

through 10 was still not clear or correct in every part. The second soprano part sounded thin and

the alto part was very muddled. The dynamics of this song never reached their full potential as
they were mostly a jump from quite during everything other than the parts of C and F. Section F

was also limited as first sopranos sang down with the second sopranos, measure 98-105 limiting

the fullness of harmonies for the ending.

Of the combined songs that all singers participated in, People Look East was the weakest

song and See amid the Winter Snow was the strongest. While the first two phrases where mostly

balanced, the two women’s groups overpowered the sound of the men’s, hurting the balance and

blend of the group. Also entrances and exits were sloppier as many singers relied on another

singer for timing instead of the conductor or having the counts memorized as well as the

placement in concert location leading to some timing inconstancies. However in the final song of

the concert the blend was reestablished and the group sounded fuller and more consistent with

previous rehearsals. The trickle of increasing voices from Chamber to Women’s and Men’s to

Treble helped build a solid foundation of sound and a fullness. The men’s part more audible and

the choir was able to watch the conductor much easier leading to better clarity and phrasing as

the director reminded and showed singers the dynamic changes he wanted. The last song was

also superior to the first in facial expressions, in the beginning of a concert a singer is more

nervous and less likely to be able to give their best. In the ending song, many were relieved that

the concert was almost over and that they had made it as far as they had. The previous songs and

applause had built up their confidence level and the director was able to remind singers who had

forgotten to express the song.

Overall the concert was a wonderful experience, which not only expressed the hard work

and musicality of director and singers, it also warmed the hearts of those who were able to listen.

I am blessed to be able to sing with such a wonderful group and I am glad I was given the

opportunity to take chorus this semester and be apart of the chorus family.