Concerts: Behind the Scenes

Hey Nighthawks! The Choir, Orchestra, and Band concerts were this month! Each group performe 3-4 songs and the band concert held a jazz night with dance lessons. While everyone sounded great and it may have gone by in a flash, you as audience members and non-ensemble members never really get to see what goes on behind the curtains. As a Choir member I’m here to give you a little behind the scenes on our concerts and performances.

Learning and Practice

First, let’s start with the actual picking of songs and learning music! After our October concert, we got right to work picking songs and voting on our February concert lineup. After buying and printing music, we quickly learn the notes, lyrics, and cues. This process only takes a few weeks but is the very foundation of our process. We start in sectionals (each sound group learning their lyrics and pitches) before coming together as a whole to polish and match with other sections. We do this with each song until we’ve officially learned each piece. From there, we work on smaller skills that will improve our sound by a landslide such as blending, vowels, and pitches. After this step and closer to concert week, we will work on solos, body percussion (stomps, claps, etc), and add in any other extra pieces.

Concert Week

Concert week is our next “stop” on this tour. It’s usually pretty stressful but also wonderful to see how much progress we’ve made.This is the week we LOCK IN! We are focused on running our songs in order multiple times over to perfect our performance and get a routine. We may even record our sound or have someone from the ensemble listen from the audience to understand how we sound from an outside perspective. This is crucial to be able to understand what we need to work on. It also ensures we are not only focusing on our individual sound but also matching our sounds to those around us.

Performance

The last thing to talk about is the day of the concert! This class period we will practice up on stage with the setup we will perform with. Extras such as people, backtracks, and soloists will be included and we are given tips to put finishing touches on our sound. After school, we have different call times for when we will have our dress rehearsals. This is when we are expected to arrive, doing our final sound check and practice before the real deal. Before our dress rehearsal, the ensemble will usually come together, talk, and calm our nerves. When called up, we walk on stage and run our performance one last time and triple check everything is perfect. Then, the concert begins! Behind the stage, we line up, quickly get into our spots, and take a deep breath. Although it may seem scary for us because we’re in front of so many people, it’s not as bad as you’d think! The last few months have led up to this very moment and this is our time to show everyone our hard work. It also helps that we can’t see anyone because the lights are blaring in our faces…But that’s besides the point. Between each performance is usually an intermission. This is where members and volunteers change sets from choir risers to chairs and music stands. The performers who have already gone will usually quickly exit the stage and watch the rest of the performance from the audience. Seeing the progress of our fellow groups may just be better than being on stage!

That concludes our behind the scenes tour! Even though the concerts are only an hour or so long, so much goes into the planning and preparation of it. Every performer is hard working, determined, and improving every day. I understand that on paper or a Schoology announcement, these events may seem boring. However I encourage everyone to go if they have time. Not only will you support your friends and classmates, but you’ll enjoy it too! They aren’t traditional choir or instrumental songs. I especially push you to go to the May concert. The ensemble members and Tri-M committee may just have a few tricks up their sleeves with the theme and song choices…