Chorus performs. Photography by Nadira B. ’15
The auditorium was nearly filled, only a few chairs were empty. As the lights dimmed, the hum of voices gradually diminished. From my seat on stage, I could see the entire choir, each member dressed in black and white, with a fresh rose clipped to their shirt. Tina gave an upbeat, and they began to sing.
They sang three songs. The song I remember most was the final one. It was a song about beggars who would beg near the theater. In the second half of the song, the choir members pulled out masks that they created themselves. With the masks came a new sense of confidence. The singer’s now sang and performed. It added a whole new level to their performance, and I clapped with great enthusiasm when they were finished.
And then it was my turn. As Mr. Patzner tuned the Jazz Band, I looked over our first song, Get Ready. Yes, I realized how ironic the name was. Although this song was nothing to write home about, it was the usher to a slew of wonderful performances. Go Daddy-O was my favorite of the four songs that Jazz Band played. The deafening roar of the bands for the final 10 measures was truly incredible. A combination of Caroline Ribet’s guitar solo and the final drum solos between Ian Esmonde and Sofi Campos-Seligman made this song end with a bang.
AVE aced every single song. Stand By Me was beautiful. With approximately 5 soloists, this song showed off the individual talents of the choir, along with the group talent. Each song was different, and accentuated various aspects of singing. I will not be able to do them justice in this article. Just know that if you did not see them, you missed out big time.
Technappella was a refreshing break from the onslaught of classical music. Technappella, for those who were “too busy” to see the show, was senior acappella group. Annie Styles and Emagene Pham were the only singers. Two singers alone cannot sing acappella, so instead they used technology to record their voices singing the background part. They played this recording while singing the melody live. They sang two songs, one of which was All About That Bass. Their G-rated version of the song was adorable and fun.
I’m sure there was at least some anticipation for the Jazz Combo. People probably wondered what trick we had up our sleeve this time. But our bag of tricks was empty. So our desperate idea of joke came only a few hours before the concert.
We walked onstage, none of us sure of what the reaction would be to our “joke.” Caroline walked to the front of the stage.
“Hello. My name is Caroline Ribet, and these are my frogs.” We all turned around. Taped to our backs were images of frogs. I think I heard a few chuckles. Ian began to play our song, Red Clay. And we nailed the song. Though this song wasn’t exactly rocket science, it did sound nice.
And finally it was Orchestra’s turn. I’m sorry to say that I have no idea how we sounded.