Voice

Firefly

During the fall of my Junior year, my choir teacher was on maternity leave. Due to an unfortunate series of substitute issues, I had to work incredibly hard with other members of Advanced Choir to put a concert on stage in December. Over the course of that semester, I took time away from my other classes (with my teachers' approval) to help prepare the other choirs. The Beginning Choir classes proved to be the most challenging by far. Since our director had to leave so early in the year, they were still not comfortable making a sound, let alone performing two pieces. Furthermore, I could only go into their classes around once per week so they spent most of their time singing without anyone there to instruct them.

As we approached the concert and it became clear that they needed a conductor, I started to identify their most significant pitfalls and tried to find movements that would help them. They struggled to remember which part came next so I found ways to cue them. I definitely could have done a better job of showing dynamics but I was just happy that they were willing to sing loudly at all. When conducting during the concert, I noticed that the facial expressions we worked on in rehearsal were completely gone. I tried to remind them to smile by modeling it myself. I had never conducted at a concert before so my strategy was basically to emulate what I have seen directors do for me. I felt completely out of my comfort zone but I appreciated the opportunity for leadership and personal growth, however unexpected it may have been.