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Weirdness at school chorus concert

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by novelist_wannabe, Dec 13, 2006.

  1. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    No one was injured and there weren't any fights, but this just struck me a s a little weird ...

    OK, so my two middle-school aged novelistas are in the school chorus, and they had their Christmas concert last night. We're not so PC here that they call it a holiday concert, and I guess everybody is OK with it, though there was on Indian girl in the troupe. Anyhow, they performed a selection of songs from the Messiah, which was fine. The program had Handel's name spelled George Frederick Handel, over which I shared a small chuckle with my mother, an accomplished pianist who had come to hear the kids sing. After they finished The Messiah, the chorus teacher/director turns around and sings "O Holy Night." She did a good job, though it came across as her showing up the kids. I guess one could interpret it as her trying to inspire them, but another parent told me it looked like she was saying, "I'm a better singer than the kids I'm teaching." I'm thinking, hey, this is not your outlet, it's theirs. BTW, it wasn't on the program. Then, one of the students sits down a the piano to play a Christmas medley. This girl was quite talented, and did a fine job, but in the middle of this medley she broke into Fur Elise, not a Christmas piece and likely one Beethoven used to woo women.

    Then, they sing a collection of more contemporary seasonal melodies and the director/teacher repeatedly turns around and exhorts the audience to sing along, which none of us seemed all that excited about. For one of them, she told the audience just to sing "watermelon" over and over to the tune of the song. Might work for the third bass who doesn't know the words, but you know, we're not part of the show. If my kids get less than an A for this class, I'm going to air this out to the superintendent's office. For now, just thought I'd share it here. You're welcome.
     
  2. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I really like "O Holy Night" if it is done well, so I would have forgiven her if she nailed it.
     
  3. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    I like watermelon...
     
  4. terrier

    terrier Well-Known Member

    I'm hoping and praying this was an all-Caucasian audience.
     
  5. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    Alas, it was not. Nor was the chorus.
     
  6. finishthehat

    finishthehat Active Member

    This sounds like a pretty normal middle-school event to me, but what do I know? Just be glad it didn't last three hours or more.
     
  7. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    The chorus teacher doing a solo is highly inappropriate. I mean the kids you came to see (and really only your kid probably) are standing their doing nothing. The audience wonders WTF happened and if they accidentally went to Celine Dion show by mistake. And the asking the crowd to sing along? Umm... no.

    Here's the deal. Kid is in chorus - goes there every day to practice. The kids practice long enough to (hopefully) not sound like complete and total shit when they sing together, so we have a concert to measure their progress. We don't have a concert to hear the teacher sing a solo - go on American Idol or Thursday night karaoke if that's your bag. We don't go to participate in a concert. All we want is for it to be bearable or mildly entertaining. Watching you sing, and being asked to participate, means failure in that regard.
     
  8. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    The teacher singing a solo is not cool. A student should have done it, IMO. However, I like the "Fur Elise" choice ... it's a little "Charlie Brown Christmas" reference and kinda cute.
     
  9. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Please tell me the ONLY reason the teacher sang the solo was because the original soloist fell ill or something. I'm more into instruments than vocal, but parents don't attend concerts for the chorus instructor to sing solos or for band directors to play their instruments as well.
     
  10. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Oh thank God, I thought maybe you had to cover chorus for your paper.

    Why don't you ever put the baritones on the cover?
     
  11. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    Or the baritone players. They blow just as hard as the trumpet players.
     
  12. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    Well, considering that song wasn't on the program, I don't think it was because the soloist fell ill. Plus, the teacher had been telling the students she had nodules on her vocal chords, the bane of a singer's existence. She didn't sound nodular to me.

    Everybody I've told about this has said, man, that's weird.
     
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