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.
You're very right! We do need to work on our giggles! I think it would be cool if we could get them to sound like theirs! Unfortunately, I don't think we have time to change that before the performance.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remembered hearing something about the Mikado so I decided I would satisfy my curiosity and complete my choir comment at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThe Mikado was written by Gilbert and Sullivan in 1885. Nanki-Poo, the Emperor of Titipu’s son, runs off as he wishes to avoid marriage to, Katisha, an older woman. He falls in love with a woman named Yum Yum who is already engaged to Ko Ko. Ko Ko is sentenced to execution but is released and made the grand executioner. He is then ordered to find someone to behead within a month or be beheaded himself. Nanki-Poo strikes a deal with Ko Ko that Nanki-Poo can marry Yum Yum for one month and then be beheaded. It ends with Nanki-Poo revealing himself to the Mikado and living happily ever after with Yum Yum. Ko Ko ends up tricking Katisha into marrying him to save his skin.
This opera has been canceled in several different areas due to causes of racism. It was traditionally performed with white actors spreading yellow face paint across there faces in a derogatory stereotype of a Japanese complexion. This combined with the rather demeaning names have led to a high level of criticism from Asian-American people.
I completely I agree with this, we did alright at the concert, but it wasn't terrific. This was the second piece I have sang in choir that really made me uncomfortable. (The first was Hist Whist from last years Fall Concert.) I think it's interesting that the added element of theatrics is what is necessary for pieces like these to work, but it just feels pretty awkward giggling in front of tons of people on stage. I can't really pin point down why I feel so uncomfortable, I just do. Yet, if we can pull it off, it sounds and looks really cool. Also Kiki, I just now watched the video you recommended and wow they really can giggle well haha HEE HEE HEEEEE
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