Tuesday: Choir Concert! Thankfully, I was able to zip my Encore dress this time! I must have really stretched it out at District Music Contest. I actually remembered my shoes this time... no ugly band shoes for me! My hair had to be curled for Encore, so I had my lovely friend Ally curl my hair. It was harder than we expected. We had to straighten it, and then curl it with a curling wand, not a curling iron, because that didn't work. For Encore, we sang 4 songs, our three contest songs, and then Lucky by Jason Mraz. Rather than dancing, Ms. Poe just wanted us to act like we loved each other and make it so cheesy that the audience laughs. She put us into three clumps. In our clumps there were "couples" sitting, standing, or kneeling together. Much to my displeasure, I had to stand next to Britton. I swear Britton and I were the only ones making it cheesy. Everyone else looked straight at Poe and had solemn looks on their faces. It was so incredibly awkward. We were having fun with it, and everyone else looked like they were marching to their graves or something. Choir was amazing! Festival Sanctus went wonderful, and Sure On This Shining Night made me cry again. I love that song so incredibly much. It is so pretty. Baba Yetu was drop-dead amazing, except for the Sopranos messing up in the middle part. (Video at the bottom...). Matt, who sings the second solo-ish part is amazing! He is actually the one who posted this video on YouTube. Is it possible to fall in love with some one's voice? I think I may have. This adorable little freshieman is amazing! I call him my "Freshman Voice Crush", and I jokingly tell people that I will marry that kid someday. I purposefully stand next to the Tenors in Encore rehearsal so that I can hear him. (By the way, I bet you can't find me... kidding, you probably can. Hint: Right side, in the land of the Altos, standing next to Britton!) The Awakening didn't go as well as I thought it would. I mean, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the song, but there just weren't as many emotions flowing through me as there were when I sang at my last concert in Ogallala. (I was a wreck that night.)
Wednesday: Girls Choir Pre-Performance Rehearsal! With our new auditorium, it is set up so that when you are up on stage, the only way you can really hear any of the instruments or other vocals is through a little radio that you clip on your waist and headphones. My sisters and I forgot our headphones, so we had to make a headphone run to Walmart before rehearsal. 3 more pairs of headphones are now added to the Stofer-Headphone-Stash. During rehearsal, we practiced it exactly how we were going to perform it. We got to sing in the new choir loft-ish looking thing! The bad thing about the headphones is that it is hard to blend with the people around you, and I could barely hear myself sing. While we were singing What a Savior, a sound booth person came up to my director, and kept pointing at me. After that song was over, they explained that all they could hear was me, and that I needed to be moved as far away from the microphones as possible. I looked at him and said, "Do I need to sing softer?" He said, "Absolutely not, don't change a thing, we just need the choir to match you." Then the entire choir got the "She is one person, she should not be out singing all 43 of you. You need to sing louder." speech. After rehearsal, I went to my Mansion Builders Bible Study. I gave Kara a ride to bible study, and it was a good thing that I had her with me. As I was trying to park the beast on the stupid residential streets, I didn't see a mail box until Kara yelled "Mailbox!". And thanks to my cat-like reflexes, I missed it by about 6 inches. As I told Celie, I just need to hire myself a chauffeur, this whole driving thing isn't working... I brake things too easily. We finished the book of 1 Peter, we have been studying it every week since the beginning of the school year.
Saturday: Graduation! Ms. Poe told me that she wanted me to play flute rather than oboe. So we were all set up in the gym, and I look up to see one of the 8th graders carrying an oboe. I freaked out on that poor child. Apparently Poe let him choose between oboe and tenor sax. Not fair. I would have chosen oboe over flute. I stole this kid's music, and looked at it. The oboe part for Pomp and Circumstance was awesome! I was so angry! After we played Pomp and Circumstance, Encore had to sing "You'll Be in My Heart" by Phil Collins with some of the Seniors. It was terrible. It was so quiet. Then we returned to our seats, and we played Jubilance as they walked out of the gym. As I was putting my Flute away, I turned around to see my brother glaring at me. I laughed and said, "Cheer up, Frank, you only have four more years of this." He rolled his eyes. He doesn't enjoy band that much. In fact, he hid his schedule from me so that I wouldn't see that he actually signed up to do band. My little brother isn't so little anymore. What happened to the adorable little boy who would escape from Momma's grasp during bath time to ride his little John Deere pedal tractor naked? What happened to the naive little boy whom I forced to eat dirt? What happened to the little boy who wouldn't even hug me because he thought girls were icky? This little boy that I have grown up is becoming a godly young man. He has a great roll model. I see more and more of my Daddy in Rudy everyday.
Sunday: Girls Choir Performance! We had to be at church at 7:55 in the morning. I even managed to leave my house a little early so that could find descent parking spot! (For future reference, filling a car up with gas on a windy day wearing a skirt is not a good idea.) Everyone was very crabby. Most of the girls were not singing out. Some of the girls' radios were not working, so the sound booth people were on edge. We lined up in the south library, and as Teresa left to go get more batteries, I clapped my hands and said, "Can I have every one's attention? I would like to say something. When we are up on stage and we are singing lower notes, try to use your chest voice as much as possible, so that the sound is louder." They all looked at me with confused faces. "Do you ladies know what your chest voice is?" Silence. "Well this is awkward. This is your chest voice." I sang a note in my chest voice. Then one of the Seniors said, "Annastazia that is a horrible idea. Chest voice is for guys." I pretended to ignore her and continued with my "You'll do amazing! Sing out! Glorify the Lord!" speech. Later I found out that the Senior girl started bashing me... to my sister. Wonderful Senior leadership. Soon after, Peggy came in and started yelling at us saying that we needed to be back stage. We walked through the narrow, long hallway behind the stage. We passed by the baptism changing rooms, the orchestra room, the various doors that lead to the stage until we finally got to our door. As we were waiting, one of the little 4th graders looked at me, her face was really pale. I kneeled next to her and asked, "Sweetie, are you feeling okay?" She shook her head, "I can't breathe." I knew that she was just nervous so I said, "That's too bad, you know if you stop breathing I am going to have to do mouth-to-mouth CPR on you. And let me be the first to say that my breath tastes like coffee." She instantly perked up and started breathing normal again. She giggled at me. I rubbed her back and said smiling at her, "See you're just fine." The performance was wonderful! After church, I went home and celebrated Maternal Unit Appreciation Day with my family. My Grandparents and my great aunt and uncle were there! I was trying to scare my sister by almost kicking her in the face, but I forgot that I was wearing a skirt, and it ripped. Right up the middle of my butt. It was soooo embarrassing! I decided that I am not going to buy a new skirt, I am going to bring-out my sewing machine and fix it myself! My sewing machine hasn't seen daylight since we moved to Ogallala in 2010, so we'll see how this goes. It's still packed away down in the basement with the rest of the stuff from my room in a box.
Today: We decided on a marching show for next year! Bond, James Bond! My favorite of the songs is Skyfall. It is soooo cool, and it has a perfect place for our chair step! I am also currently helping our new director, Mr. Parde, with some possible new cadence ideas! And thanks to the guidance from Micah, we may be doing a spin! Although, if I am going to show my band how to do it, I should probably learn how to do it correctly. I am sad that Ms. Poe will no longer be directing band, but I am excited to see what Mr. Parde has to teach us. Plus, I will still have Poe for choir and Encore, and I am TA-ing for her next year during 8th period.
I can't wait to see all of my amazing friends this weekend! I miss you guys so much!
Below is the video of Baba Yetu. The camera cuts off about a third of the choir, so our choir is larger than it looks on the screen.
By the way, guess who did the splits this weekend... this girl! :)
Sunday: Girls Choir Performance! We had to be at church at 7:55 in the morning. I even managed to leave my house a little early so that could find descent parking spot! (For future reference, filling a car up with gas on a windy day wearing a skirt is not a good idea.) Everyone was very crabby. Most of the girls were not singing out. Some of the girls' radios were not working, so the sound booth people were on edge. We lined up in the south library, and as Teresa left to go get more batteries, I clapped my hands and said, "Can I have every one's attention? I would like to say something. When we are up on stage and we are singing lower notes, try to use your chest voice as much as possible, so that the sound is louder." They all looked at me with confused faces. "Do you ladies know what your chest voice is?" Silence. "Well this is awkward. This is your chest voice." I sang a note in my chest voice. Then one of the Seniors said, "Annastazia that is a horrible idea. Chest voice is for guys." I pretended to ignore her and continued with my "You'll do amazing! Sing out! Glorify the Lord!" speech. Later I found out that the Senior girl started bashing me... to my sister. Wonderful Senior leadership. Soon after, Peggy came in and started yelling at us saying that we needed to be back stage. We walked through the narrow, long hallway behind the stage. We passed by the baptism changing rooms, the orchestra room, the various doors that lead to the stage until we finally got to our door. As we were waiting, one of the little 4th graders looked at me, her face was really pale. I kneeled next to her and asked, "Sweetie, are you feeling okay?" She shook her head, "I can't breathe." I knew that she was just nervous so I said, "That's too bad, you know if you stop breathing I am going to have to do mouth-to-mouth CPR on you. And let me be the first to say that my breath tastes like coffee." She instantly perked up and started breathing normal again. She giggled at me. I rubbed her back and said smiling at her, "See you're just fine." The performance was wonderful! After church, I went home and celebrated Maternal Unit Appreciation Day with my family. My Grandparents and my great aunt and uncle were there! I was trying to scare my sister by almost kicking her in the face, but I forgot that I was wearing a skirt, and it ripped. Right up the middle of my butt. It was soooo embarrassing! I decided that I am not going to buy a new skirt, I am going to bring-out my sewing machine and fix it myself! My sewing machine hasn't seen daylight since we moved to Ogallala in 2010, so we'll see how this goes. It's still packed away down in the basement with the rest of the stuff from my room in a box.
Today: We decided on a marching show for next year! Bond, James Bond! My favorite of the songs is Skyfall. It is soooo cool, and it has a perfect place for our chair step! I am also currently helping our new director, Mr. Parde, with some possible new cadence ideas! And thanks to the guidance from Micah, we may be doing a spin! Although, if I am going to show my band how to do it, I should probably learn how to do it correctly. I am sad that Ms. Poe will no longer be directing band, but I am excited to see what Mr. Parde has to teach us. Plus, I will still have Poe for choir and Encore, and I am TA-ing for her next year during 8th period.
I can't wait to see all of my amazing friends this weekend! I miss you guys so much!
Below is the video of Baba Yetu. The camera cuts off about a third of the choir, so our choir is larger than it looks on the screen.
By the way, guess who did the splits this weekend... this girl! :)
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