The recent Gala concert was a major success! With a fully sold out show, people still wanted to find spots to watch and we made place for a group of people to sit on the balcony to watch the spectacle below.
I participated in this gala both as a performer and working behind the scenes along by bringing performers from the SMPR/ salon where they stayed when not performing and the green room where they would stay in the couple of acts before theirs, before I would finally usher them to the correct entrance for their performance.
I’ll focus first on the singing. I performed 2 songs in the senior vocal ensemble, them being Stand Up (from Harriet) and Seasons Of Love (from the musical Rent). Every Thursday lunch time leading up to the gala and some Monday lunch times I rehearsed guided by Mr Kim and with the other senior voice members. I am a soprano, which means I sing the very high notes in songs. However, I was one…out of three. This might not sound as dramatic as I make it out to be but with so many altos in our choir it meant I would have to focus more on projecting. Mr Kim gave me a helpful tip, I could basically get away with just singing the notes instead of the words as people wouldn’t be able to understand me that well anyway. This gave me a lot of confidence during rehearsals. At home I focused on listening through the tracks and humming along to my part. This way I would memorize it faster.
Behind the set I had lots of work to do. I had to be aware of the songs and their order, which order the musicians had to line up to enter the stage and all the timing in between. I started off by telling them before the gala started that they would have to listen to me otherwise we would drag out the show and make it difficult for all the tech crew. I established some boundaries and walked them through the plan the crew had made. Before they went on stage I told them where they would stand and hyped them up to calm their nerves. I ran between the salon and the green room, as well as the stage occasionally to watch people perform. It might have been hectic but it pushed me to challenge myself as it took a lot of planning that we did the day before.
Featured Image Credit: Mr Kim