- Lesson 1. Keep your eyes focused on the director; stay focused. (Wandering eyes don't look good during a performance, they are distracting, and people in the audience will be focused on you then. Also, the director will queue you when to come in if you watch!)
- Lesson 2. Never put your hand on your face (during a performance); let that itch go. (This is important during a concert, not during rehearsal, as it is very distracting and draws attention to you.)
- Lesson 3: Never chew gum in a performance. (This applies to rehearsal too, it is distracting, and you can't sing with gum in your mouth!)
- Lesson 4: Be sure to always have proper concert attire. (Don't be the one who shows up in bright orange shorts and neon colored shoes- I think Ms. Hughes told us a story about this.)
- Lesson 5: Blending is super important. Super. Important. (This one is pretty funny in the video. Not everyone is a soloist during a choir concert. Listen to each other and try to blend using similar vowel shapes, and match the volume the conductor is indicating !)
- Lesson 6: Never laugh during a performance, including after a mistake is made. (This only applies to when you're singing in a performance, if you make a mistake, just continue normally, and the audience will never know!)
- Lesson 7: Don't text during a performance. Turn your cellphone off and leave it offstage to avoid distractions. (Well this one is just common sense. It applies to rehearsal too! It's rude and disrespectful when we are trying to learn something.)
- Lesson 8: Always hold your folder up- but don't block your face! (You want to hold your music, during rehearsal and during a performance, so that you can see your music and the director!)
- Lesson 9: Never lock your knees; bad things happen. (We have all heard Ms. Hughes say this one, if you lock your knees, then you will get light headed and possibly faint!)
- Lesson 10: Never talk during a performance, even between songs. (This doesn't look good.)
- Lesson 11: Don't look like death. (Alright, I added this one in! But we have all heard this before. If you look like a deer in headlights, or expressionless, it makes you look less engaging, which makes it boring for the audience. Try to convey the meaning of the song instead through your eyes and face.)
And there ya' go! This is a nice little compilation of proper Concert Etiquette, isn't it? I think we did a pretty good job of doing these things last concert, but just a reminder. :)
Mohini Batish
ReplyDeleteThese are really good rules for what a choir student should remember while doing a performance. I thought that this was a fabulous video, and I wish everyone in our choir had seen this before the concert, because there were some things that I saw in the video that I thought we could have improved on like smile while singing, or learning how to hold your music properly. All these things would of helped us along especially for the newbies, and even for the people have been in choir for a while.Just knowing that stuff from a video is all it takes to make us an even better choir.This is cool that you found this video Mohini! That was an interesting and helpful post.
-Anna Olson
This is a really funny video because it is painfully true. Our etiquette on stage makes a lot of difference. But I think it would be fun if they made a sequel on audience etiquette. Much like the video we saw in class but shown from the perspective of the singers. I always find it interesting to look at how an audience reacts while we perform, what they like, what they don't like, if they catch our mistakes or not, how they mirror the emotions we convey, the guy sleeping in the back, parents trying to silently yell at their small kids for goofing off and ending up even more disruptive. I know I really shouldn’t be looking around while I’m singing, as said in the video, come to think of it. But while I will work harder on paying attention to my conductor, I still believe that the performer/viewer dynamic is very interesting. I believe if looked farther into, it could yield even greater comedic material.
ReplyDeleteI love this video so much! I think when performers get onstage it is easy to forget about stage presence and only focus on vocals. Of course it is important to have good vocals, but part of preforming is presenting yourself onstage. I think that as a choir, we should all work to improve are stage presence, not because we desperately need it, but because it is a better experience for the audience when we do. Obviously we should not smile and dance along to a song about death and hardships, but we should have fun with light-hearted songs. When people come to see a choir preform, they are not coming soley to hear the music, otherwise their would be no reason for us to stand on stage. People come to see the songs conveyed by the preformers, and it is our job as performers to present the songs.
ReplyDelete