I found this video of a woman singing inside a mire system. It is interesting to see how the tongue moves when you are singing. You can see very clearly when it is she opens her throat and how literal that phrase is. They talk about her range and the differences between vowel sounds in the mouth. There is also an emcee, and seeing how fast his tongue moves is incredible. Really you should click on the link and see it for yourself. It was presented at the ISMRM Sounds and Visions Session, May 2006, in Seattle. 

The Gondoliers

The Gondoliers, or, The King of Barataria was the 12th Savoy Opera which was created by the partnership of Arthur Sullivan's musical genius, and W.S. Gilbert's clever writing. Its story is that of two impoverished Venetian Gondoliers who are informed by the Grand inquisitor that one of them has been named the "King of Barataria", but, that the only person who knows which of them is the true heir is their mutual foster mother. Subsequently the pair, along with their wives and the Grand Inquisitor, as well as a myriad of other cast members, traipse about attempting to find out who, in fact, is the "King Of Barataria".

The piece which we sing from The Gondoliers is the closing piece of the whole operetta. Through the course of the story Giuseppe and Marco have gone from happy bachelors, to merry newly weds, to contestants for the Kingship of Barataria; and finally, back to being happy newly weds paddling their gondolas down the causeways of Venice. In addition, the character whom we are introduced to as Luiz the Drummer, has been finally revealed as the true "King of Barataria". And from that we also learn that Luiz's nurse is the mother of one of the two brothers, though we can never know which one. But, with the marital crisis between Casilda and the brothers resolved all characters can finally return to their original happy states, relieved that the whole debacle is over.

It seems to me as if this emotion of relief is expressed in the intense crescendos which we sing in this piece. And just as how in the play the characters have accomplished a lot and are rejoicing the happy ending, just as we as a choir have accomplished so much and are able to in this song rejoice our accomplishments in this concert and of course also that we can now rest.

I have two sources in case anyone is interested in reading more about the Gondoliers or the overall genius of Sir Arthur Sullivan:

http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/gondoliers/html/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gondoliers

History of Opera

As I was pondering what to write for this post, I realized that I definitely do not know as much about opera as I should know.  So, I searched for an article about how opera originated and how it has developed to be what it is today.  I ended up finding this article...
http://www.epoc.co/?q=node/88

This is a must have guide to opera.  It answers many questions one may have like, "what is an opera?" or "how is an opera different from a musical?" or "what is IN an opera?"  These burning questions have now been answered!  In one part of the article it explains why opera is so special compared to other types of performances, and it says "Opera is a unique fusion of words, music and design. These ingredients, when combined, deliver large amounts of information to the audience simultaneously – information about the characters’ outlook, feelings, motivations and actions. If the composer, librettist, designer and director all rise to the challenges of the art-form, the result, for the audience, can be uniquely absorbing, moving, and thrilling."  I love this because when I read this I imagined how all these components could be thrown together in such a small amount of time and how it could be quite overwhelming and not enjoyable.  But, somehow opera does it in such a gorgeous and fascinating way that it is truly remarkable.  This article really got me thinking about why I don't go see more operas.  But, I do now feel moderately educated about the world of opera.  

Put Yourself Out There :)

Recently I just learned that singing is not about being good or bad at it. I was always a very shy singer, I would stay quiet and not project because I was ashamed of my voice. I thought that people would judge my voice. Many amazing singers that I know are afraid to project their voice because of the fear of being judged by the people around them. People also say that they wont sing loudly because they sing wrong. The only way that can be fixed is by singing loudly because then your instructor of teacher can fix that certain problem you have. Another large thing is to sing with energy because even if you have an amazing voice but you don't sing with energy, that means that the whole choir will loose their energy. However imagine if the whole choir if full of energy and movement, that will bring more energy into the song and more meaning to it. A couple days ago someone in my past choir class told me they did not want to sing loudly because they were afraid that people will think that their voice is bad. I told her, if you sing loud and full of confidence then people will just go with it and not make fun of you. Choir is like a family, the whole point is to work as a whole, not separate parts. Everyone will support you and correct you if you have made a mistake. Choir is about Harmony and Friendship and Singing.

When I was young instead of watching The Little Mermaid or Aladin, my parents had me watch The Magic Flute. As it was all in German, I had little chance of understanding it.

The Magic Flute was written by Mozart, a Freemason who was inspired by the conflict between Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, the Grand duke of Tuscany who happened to be a Freemason. Empress Maria was a Catholic, when the Pope excommunicated all Freemasons. The relationship between Empress Maria and her husband, Francis I, became Mozart’s Queen of Night and Sarastro (Romanska, n.d.).

The Magic Flute is the story of Tamino and Pamina, two lovers who are kept apart by the Queen of Night and Sarastro’s treacherous servant, Monostatos. Sarastro attempts to free Pamina from her mother’s (the Queen of Night) influence. The Queen of Night persuades Tamino to recover her daughter. Tamino meets up with Papgeno (a bird catcher) who he later continues on his quest with. Three ladies (reminiscent of the Greek Fates or Macbeth’s witches) present Tamino with a magic Flute to charm the hearts of men, and Papgeno with bells to keep him safe.  In the process Tamino is impressed by Sarastro and ends up attempting to win the princess. All the while Papgeno attempts to find his own partner. Eventually both find their loved ones and everyone, except for the Queen of Night, live happily ever after (The Magic Flute San Francisco Opera Guild 2007 Teachers’ Guide and Resource Book, 2007).

I’m not sure if there was a specific reason that my parents exposed me to the Magic Flute, however because I watched it I now have a love opera, and have a far richer personality. Just kidding, all I remember is being confused and learning how to read subtitles.

Also two questions: Did we have to cite sources? And why is it that most of the Operas I have heard are in other language (if there is a reason)?

Romanska, Magda. "The Magic Flute, Digging Deeper." Boston Lyric Opera. N.p., n.d.

Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

The Magic Flute San Francisco Opera Guild 2007 Teachers’ Guide and Resource Book.

San Francisco: San Francisco Opera Guild, 2007. PDF.

Three Little Maids on Television

The other day I was letting my sister know the songs we would be doing at the concert this week and when the title of the song "Three Little Maids" came up, she immediately sprung up and asked me where she'd heard it before. We did a Google Search and it turns out the song had appeared on the Suite Life of Zack and Cody on Disney Channel when we were kids. I thought it might be fun to share that video with all of you.
It's not a very musically-focused video, but it is quite funny and might strike a chord with some of you, if you remember the show from when most of us were still children. I think it won't be quite as hard to manage some smiles and giggles thinking about this video during the performance this week.
Video here [x]

Three Little Maids

      Today I was thinking about each of the song's that Bella Voce was going to perform for the concert and which ones I was most nervous about and needed the most work. This made me begin to think about Three Little Maids and how PAINFULLY awkward we all sadly are (even though it is one of our simplest vocal pieces)! Every time we rehearse this song in class I can feel the tension of each group before the dreadful giggles. My first instinct is to literally say the words "HEHEHEEEHEEEHEEE" in the highest pitched tone possible and sadly, this sounds nothing like a genuine laugh. It just sounds scary. Another thing that is sad about it is that I have such a loud voice that when my group giggles, all you can hear clearly is my scary HEE HEEEES. Every time. This is when I realized for the first time that I am THE WORST fake laugher of all time.
     All of these events culminated into a search for an amazing performance of Three Little Maids on Youtube that I could hopefully learn from. At first all I found was a bunch of Japanese versions with only three singers and then I finally found an incredible version that I love! Here's the link and I recommend EVERY WOMAN IN BELLA VOCE TO WATCH IT BECAUSE THEY ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN US :(  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6SVaItJLw
     I love this version because every single singer is so committed to everything that they are doing. The choralography is delightful and super fun to watch. I really like how the entire choir giggles together instead of in sections because it seems much less awkward and all the voices together brings out so much more energy. I also loved the way they had three different giggles with different intonations instead of them all sounding the same like how ours do. Honestly, I would love to devote the rest of our rehearsals to memorizing their movements but WE JUST DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME :(((. In addition I think the mere number of singers makes it a lot more fun to watch because the effects of all their moves multiplies drastically. Like when you see the wave of fans that they are holding perfectly timed across the group, it is a lot more dramatic than how it would look for our choir of what, 20? LOL.
    But anyways I think we could all learn a lot from this choirs energy. They are so fun to watch and hopefully we can look like were having as much fun as they are for our concert. MOST IMPORTANTLY WE NEED TO WORK ON OUR GIGGLES AND MAKE THEM AS PERFECT AS THIS CHOIR'S GIGGLES.

With all the Opera we’re singing I figured it would be good to look at different types of Operas and how it applies to our concert selections.

A basic rundown of Opera:

Opera Seria:  the dominating form for some time, it tackled serious topics with serious style. Enjoyed primarily by the upper classes, this opera type was nearly synonymous with court opera

Opera Buffa: aka comic opera, this style gave rise as a popular rival to Opera Seria. Buffa is heavily comedic with comic characters/music/etc. It featured more of the current vernacular, which popularized it with the ‘common man’

Opera Semiseria: as you could guess by the name, this style is semi-serious; where the story is serious with a happy ending.

Opera Comique: Opera where the lines a spoken rather than sung.

Grand Opera: large scale performances, often includes ballet

Opera Verismo: Meant to be representative of more realistic people. The plot was often melodramatic.

Going through our (Bella Voce’s) selections, we can see these styles in our songs, as well as how we can apply that knowledge to improve our performance.

Call of the Flowers – Lakme – Leo Delibes

Lakme is an Opera Comique about a tragic love. Call of the Flowers introduces Lakme, the love interest, and describes the beauty of flowers surrounding her and her companion.

Chantons – Armide by Jean Baptiste Lully

Armide was the first opera in the operatic genre of Tragédie en musique which was invented by Lully. Tragédie en musique falls somewhere between Opera Semiseria and Grand Opera, with a chorus and ballet troupe telling epic noble tales which don’t necessarily end in tragedy. Armide however is not so lucky. But we should sing Chanton keeping in mind the grand productions of Tragédie en musique

Ricevete – Marriage of Figaro – WA Mozart

Marriage of Figaro is an opera buffa, a comedic opera. As such, Ricevete is a lighthearted song about giving flowers as a show of adoration and love.

Svegliatevi nel core- Julius Caesar – GF Handel

Obviously an Opera Seria, Svegliatevi is heavily dramatic, and the severity of the lyrics should be conveyed properly.

Three Little Maids – Mikado – Glbert and Sullivan

Mikado is regarded as ‘the most frequently performed Savoy Opera’ to this day, Savoy being a style of comic opera. As we have discussed in class, this song needs to maintain that comedic element throughout the piece.

Hopefully keeping the spirit of Opera in mind, by knowing this we can improve our performances.

A Brief History of Opera

If you look up the definition of opera, you will find many different definitions but the one that seems to pop up the most is that opera is a fusion of music, drama, visual arts, and dance that is appealing to the ears and eyes. So where did opera come from and why is it so pleasing to people?

Opera, or the Italian word meaning “work” dates back all the way to the 1500’s and contains stories about everything from historical events to fairy tales. When the renaissance came around to Florence, Italy a group of wealthy men got together and devised a way to revive and improve Greek dramas. A man named Jacopo Peri (1547-1633) composed Dafne which was recognized as the first opera. Later the first opera house was built in Venice, Italy in 1637. By the mid 1600’s opera became popular throughout many European countries.

The Baroque and Classical periods brought some of the most famous composers such as Bach and Mozart. During these times the main demographic was the wealthy upper class family that was looking for refined entertainment. However, this demographic soon changed to include the middle classes after the French Revolution when there wasn’t really an upper class that to be represented in France after the revolution. The art form was always a forbidden treasure to the middle and lower classes of the 16th through the 18th centuries. I have only ever seen one in my whole life and even that wasn’t really an opera. It was excerpts from certain composers and even an eight year old who wasn’t able to understand exactly what was happening, I still found it every bit as interesting and beautiful as if I had completely understood. Have you ever seen an opera that no matter what is was about you were moved by it?

Phantom of the Opera

Phantom of the Opera History

The Phantom of the Opera was a classic musical and opera that later in the years became a movie. The musical was out in 1986 that was made by Andrew Lloyd Webber that was soon released in London in 1986. this musical was filled with enchantment and wonder. They story was written by many people. The whole stories concept was to show people the mysteries about the olden times and the power of deception and the wonders of singing. The whole story is about a girl that can sing with an amazing voice and her talents are outstanding. She is the main star for the shows that are produced in the musical. The only question ever asked was who was her teacher. Know one ever knew but her and she never could remember who he was but he had a voice as well as hers. As the musical goes on there comes another man that is in love with her and she loves him. Her feelings for this man named Raul grew, but no matter how much she loved him she had small feelings for her mystery teacher that was madly in love with her. Soon he appears and is known as the Phantom of the Opera who runs and make her the greatest start and teacher her how to sing. When the main show comes to the Phantom and Raul fight over her and the phantom loses and regrets all he has done and hides for the rest and she stays with Raul and he thinks about her all the time. When the movie came out there was much excitement and happiness for this classic opera. I believe this musical has a story to tell us that the phantom with in all of us teaches us and we should not push him away for think bad on him. The opening song is the greatest and the part were she goes with the phantom underground. The link is here. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JaeBxYCI9k   

Marriage of Figaro

I noticed that a decent amount of our songs are from The Marriage of Figaro. Funnily enough, The Marriage of Figaro is one the of plays I saw in drama for a Theater Critique--way back in 8th grade. I say play, not opera, because I very distinctly recall it as not being musical. I guess I saw a different version. It was very funny though. I chose it because my critique was due and it was the only show I could find (oops) but I ended up really liking it because it was so hilarious (it was also in English, not Italian, which helped). Anyways, when we talked about it as an opera in class I was confused. The storyline is essentially the same: a creepy sleazy count is hitting on Figaro's fiance. So Figaro, his fiance, and the count's wife trick the count into thinking his wife, the countess, is having an affair. Lots of love triangles and dramatic irony ensue, as Figaro finds his long lost parents, a page boy is dressed up as a girl for the ruse, and eventually the count and countess stay together (they love one another after all?) and Figaro and his fiancee Suzanne get their happily ever after.
I looked up the opera on youtube because I wanted to see how they did this all through singing. It's hard to really imagine all these jokes being told through song for me. The language barrier of course is a big deal, you can't really get a joke in another language if you don't speak it. I watched a few minutes to compare and it was pretty different than the production I saw, but if the people who were watching it originally did speak Italian, it's totally understandable why this opera is so famous and well liked-- it's an intricate comedy that's funny throughout the whole story.
I think this is something good for everyone to watch a few minutes of, since both Callista Chorale and Bella Voce are singing songs from it. I also believe some of our soloists will be doing pieces from it.
Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fef03047ZX8

Call of the Flowers

One of my favorite songs that Bella Voce sings is "Call of the Flowers". In this video of "Call of the Flowers" the music is Low so you have turn the volume up. Anyways I like this video because it shows the woman standing up straight and projecting their voices to make it sound very beautiful. They also wear the same colors (black, white and plain black) and they all wear dresses to make the Performance entire. Likewise, the back of the ramps are white so you can see the gorgeous dresses and faces. Something that despite about this video is the conductor is right infront of the piano and the piano is in front of the people singing. I despise that because I can't see the fabulous people behind the piano singing. The words in the song are French ,which is a Romance language, so it makes the song more heartful and more emotional to sing. This is one of my Favorite songs because it's very pretty and the easiest song to sing for me because I have a French background and I speak a little french too. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do (for all of the not Bella Voce’s cause you’ve probably never heard it before).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7vHDkTksFM

Jubilate! Joy We Bring! By Antonio Vivaldi

Jubilate! Joy We Bring, a Baroque Opera chorus, was composed by Antonio Vivaldi. It also happens to be one of the songs Callista is singing at the upcoming choir concert! Jubilate is from Vivaldi's opera La Fida Ninfa, and was first heard at the grand opening of the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy in 1732. Baroque music tends to have a springy, light feel to it, which you can clearly hear when you listen to Jubilate.  What is interesting about  the opera La Fida Ninfa, is that it seems to convey the moods and situations of his characters described in his music. Also,  an interesting fact is that the opera La Fida Ninfa was composed in great haste by Vivaldi. This is because the organizers of the theater opening replaced their original composer, Giuseppe Maria Orlandina, and as a last minute decision, they chose Vivaldi, who had to write the opera in a hurry.

La Fida Ninfa was composed by Vivaldi to a libretto (a text of an opera or vocal work) by Francesco Scipione, an educated aristocrat who was also a poet.  Francesco Scipione also happened to be one of the organizers of the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy.  His libretto La Fida Ninfa was about love-struck nymphs, grumpy pirates, and multiple cases of mistaken identity.

La Fida Ninfa also shows a new Baroque musical style which has short, repeated melodic motifs. These melodic motifs are also known as musical building blocks or a prominent sequence of notes. (For example, the first four notes in Beetoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor). They are used as building blocks to a theme; the larger, overarching main idea of the song.

Anyways, I think we will have a blast singing the opera songs at the concert!

-Mohini Batish

Die Schöne Müllerin

In 10th grade English, we are currently doing a unit on the Aesthetic movements from 1750 until present day. In our most recent unit we are studying the classical and romantic periods. We listened to Die schöne Müllerin (Op. 25, D 795) by Franz Schubert. For our assignment in class we had to identify specific sections of the Opera that related to the Aesthetic movement we were studying in class. I found this piece super interesting, and due to the current theme of our concert decided to share it with you guys. The songs in the cycle describe a young journeyman who falls desperately in love with a miller's daughter, and then tragically sinks into despair as his love is stolen away by a hunter. Although we didn't listen to the entire work in class, I listened to it outside of class, and found it very lovely. I suggest everyone listen to this piece, even if it is just to enjoy it and not dissect it for its classical and romantic qualities.

The Wedding of Figaro

The song that Callista Chorale is singing at the imminent concert which begins, “Giovanni lieti, fiori spargete,” is from The Marriage of Figaro. Before writing this post, I looked up Figaro on Wikipedia, such that I could give a basic synopsis of the plot and the biography of the opera, since, as of this writing, no one has posted about “Giovanni liete.”

The Marriage of Figaro, then, is an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto (the text of an opera; thank you, Music History section of theory book) of Figtaro is based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais. Mozart composed his operatic adaptation of Beaumarchais’s work in 1786, and it premiered on the 1^st of May that same year, which seems spectacularly early to me; I guess Mozart was just geniusing it up again.

You may be thinking, “Figaro? That sounds familiar. I guess that melody I hear every once in a while that goes, ‘Fiiiigaro, Fiiiigaro, FigaroFigaroFigoroFigaroFigaroFigaroFiiiiiigaro,’ is from Figaro.” I assumed that as well, but it is in fact incorrect. That is from The Barber of Seville, which is not even by Mozart.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I looked into the plot of Figaro, but what I discovered was not it. Although I had been informed that the plots of operas are sometimes silly, my mind has always been filled with images of a more dramatic, profound nature (possibly this stems from the extremely little I know of The Ring Cycle, by Wagner). But the plot of Figaro reads like a Broadway musical…one set in Italy in the 1600s, it is true, but the basic plot could have been transposed into a modern setting with the greatest of ease—in fact, I have no doubts that this has been done. The plot, essentially, goes like this: Figaro and Susanna, the servants the Count and Countess, want to be married. The Count wants to seduce Susanna, and the Countess wants the Count’s love again. Marcellina, the old housekeeper of Figaro’s enemy Dr. Bartolo wants to marry Figaro as settlement for a debt he owes her. Then ruses, letters, window-leaps, disguises, parental revelations, and hiding-in-closets-ensue, until all get a happy ending, although not necessarily the one they expected. All of it is very improbably, but tremendously funny—I chuckled to myself a couple of times while reading it.

http://youtu.be/1hQVZXEOAAE

I chose the song " Call of The Flowers" because it's one of my favorite songs that we sing in Bella voce and I really liked this video because it has all these Woman singing all these parts ( soprano and alto) this I like because they projected more and the words in French are clearly heard, which makes a good performance because the words are always important in a song. I liked how they were dressed in all formal black, which is how we are going to be dressed in our performance. I noticed the some of the woman had good posture which is important so you can sing loud and clearly and beautifully. What I liked most of all is how it all sounds so beautiful and how the harmony is just right, which I think is what makes the performance complete. Most of all I'm excited to sing this song in our choir performance and hope we can reach that beautiful perfection of that harmony. 

I found a webpage that allows you to type an Italian word and it gives you the pronunciation with an audio file. I think this will be helpful to many choir students because the Italian words are extremely difficult to pronounce and this will hopefully assist many students. Just type in an Italian word and the results will show up. Italian Pronunciation

The Humming Chorus' Versions and its History

The Humming Chorus is a song performed in Madame Butterfly, an opera based on a story in Madame Chrysantheme, a french novel written in 1887. The opera tells a story of a young Japanese girl and an American man and their marriage. The opera is set in Nagasaki in 1904. After receiving poor reviews, Puccini revised the play, splitting it into three acts instead of two. The Humming Chorus became a bridge between the second and third act.
There are many versions of this song, but this is one of my favorites. I really enjoy this version of the song as you can hear the individual voices, but they are very good at creating a cohesive and interesting piece. It's think that it is hard to bring the power in the high notes while humming, but they do it very well. The high notes, which are softer, still seem really in control. I believe one of the best parts about this version is their rhythm. There are parts that are a bit behind, but they get back onto the rhythm collectively very fast after they lose it. Breathing is also very important in this song, and the singers time their breathing very well. The singers breathe at different times, which creates a smoother sound. There are no unintentional breaks in the singing, so none of the pauses are awkward.
I'm looking forward to performing it during the choir concert because it is so pretty and calming, but also really interesting.
Here's the link to the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uHF1-8TcEk

Jonathan and Charlotte's Britain's Got Talent Audition

I was watching random auditions and I saw this beautiful opera duo. Jonathan Antoine (the performer in the video) a 17 year old boy, auditions at Britain's Got Talent with his friend Charlotte and totally surprises the judges! Then they start to sing and it was unbelievable. Jonathan’s voice is so “unbelievable”. He has pure talent. My favorite part of this audition is around time  3:15 when it pulls back and you can hear both voices working together more instead of Jonathan’s voice overpowering Charlotte’s. I do agree with Simon when he says that Jonathan definitely does not need any accompaniment. I think that Charlotte sounds very closed and tight when singing that high with Jonathan. However I do like the echoing of the english after the phrase sung by Jonathan, but I want it done by someone other than Charlotte. On a less technical note, I love Jonathan’s  personality. I love him being very humble and shocked after he’s sung and the judges are telling him how brilliant he is, I love him wanting to stay with his friend Charlotte when Simon tells him to dump her, I love him starting to sing early and then realizing he was off, and I love his warm feeling that he shows on stage.Lastly I would like to point out what Simon says right when Jonathan walks on stage, Jonathan is very large and when Simon sees him he says “just when you think things couldn’t get any worse” but Simon ate his words after he heard him sing. This performance gave me goose bumps!!

Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsNlcr4frs4

Radiohead

In Airbag by Radiohead I really like how the quite high guitar parts coupled with the very psychedelic guitar parts, bass, drum beats, and violin in this case come together to make a really beautiful sound that seems to back off a little when Thom Yorke's vocals come in. This basic style of psychedelic guitar coupled with clearer guitar and drum is used a lot in Radiohead songs, but the songs are still very different. I really love how if you really listen you can almost loose yourself in the instrumentals and vocals. Another really great song to listen to is Planet Telex, it has similar psychedelic tones, but the psychedelic tones are higher and the rest is a little lower creating a really cool sound. It's also really cool how Radiohead branches out, if you listen to high and dry or creep they focus more on the vocals, and they're just as powerful. The vocals in a lot of Radiohead's songs are really demanding and Thom Yorke does an amazing job although you can hear imperfections weather intended or unintended, I kind of like it when you can hear the imperfections in a singers voice because it shows how hard it was and it makes it seem realer than some other modern artists, who in my opinion rely too much on auto-tune and should just go without it.  (Sorry for using Psychedelic so much and kind of rambling on a bit too much, I just love Radiohead so much).
 




 








 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R1OAFA7DXE

Three Little Maids is a very intriguing song in women's choir. I love this video because of the theatrical part of it. It really brings character and life to it. The costumes are big gown dresses and and coats and they have danced routines and AMAZING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. The best part about this video is how ENERGIZED they are, making the audience completely engage in the piece. As were taught, it's very good to be energized while singing a song and look happy.  In this video, it was almost if they were telling a story, rather than singing.  The women were singing soprano and alto and the men would sing a lot lower and they harmonized a lot bringing lots of power into the song with their voices together.  I noticed they would slap their knees and jump and clap and run around on stage with perfect dances choreographed making their whole performance very well thought out and engaging.  This song relates to Three Little Maids a lot due to it's sound and how both songs are presented on stage, both are so cheerful and happy, making you feel happy and SO diverse to Sleviagti nel core. Whereas it's so powerful and scary and conveys a completely different story.  Overall, I loved the performance and am excited to be doing it in women's choir.

Dido's Lament

                            Sorry the quality is not great, but I still think it's really beautiful.

Jeff Buckley's version of Dido's Lament so beautiful and powerful, even though he is not a professional opera singer. His range is amazing and his natural talent is outstanding. I particularly like the highest "remember me" in the middle of the song because you can really tell how difficult it was for him to hit that note, but he does. The reason I like this so much (other than the fact it's a beautiful rendition) is because Jeff mainly sings rock, so it's really interesting that he would choose something so difficult and unfamiliar to him is really cool. I also did some research on what he based his version on and I found that it was likely Janet Bakers version, which is equally lovely. I think there is a fairly clear similarity in the two renditions and both are very beautiful, one from a professional opera singer, and one from a rock singer.