More callbacks?

Alrighty. I'm a little late on the update, but I'm here nonetheless.

So... This past Friday was Spring break (for the highschool), so this is really an entry for the Friday before that, Friday March 10th.

So I got there at a decent hour, at 2:15pm, and no one, I mean, NO ONE was there, not even teachers. I soon found out that it was multicultural week, and everyone was at an assembly.

Eventually, people started to turn up. I also found out that a tenor and an alto can no longer make it due to conflicts, so my numbers are down. And whenever a guy is down, that's bad news.

Time ticked away, and eventually Carrie. I learned more about what this whole multicultural week was about, and, seeing how it was Friday before spring break, she figured not many would show up. I hope she was wrong, since I really wanted to get this thing going.

Luckily, devotion from the singers were high, and everyone showed up (except for the aforementioned, as well as a couple of them who have told me in advance), and an unexpected callback also.

So off we went. Callbacks were, coincidentally, 1 of each part.

Since I only had the callback tenor, I moved an alto down (and I might have to do this permanently, depending on the soloists for the songs). I did the usual warm-ups (I'll save the "one" warm-up for our first officla group practice), and off we went, t0o re-learn the song for the new folks.

I can sense boredom from the people who were there before, but if they knew the significance of needing more people, they may see the plight that the group could've been in: only 2 confirmed basses, and 1 tenor. So these callback guys had better be good.

And off we went, learning the song. More Sweet Surrender. More lyrical counter-melody for the sopranos (albeit a tad on the boring side). More rhythm for the alto. The tenors had the hardest time, since they had no one that knew the piece (remember, I pulled an alto down, and the other was a callback). Bass-wise, it wasn't too bad, since the callback came prepared, and also another bass was there.

Ultimately, after about an hour and fifteen of teaching, we actually learned the rest of the song (I'm crossing my fingers for how this sounds when I see them again this Friday...).

The most impressive thing about all this: the 3 sopranos sounded ANGELIC. No other way to put it. I don't think I've ever heard 3 sopranos blend this well. It was quite ridiculous, since their voices rang as if one person, one entity.

At the end, we had brief quartet, and I evaluated them. I'll of course disclose the results privately.

Anyway, with 3 strong sopranos, I'm trying to figure out how to juggle the 4th soprano who couldn't make it today. I may end up with some shuffling, pending soloist (audition this Friday). I hate to have someone relearn a piece just to accommodate, but we're still starting out, and hopefully they won't mind too much.

(wow, this is a pretty boring entry. Ah well).

On a side note, I got a copy of my old group (Acoustix)'s recorded concert with the Baud Boys. I clipped out our version of California Dreamin', so if anyone wants to hear it, it's here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/15954551/Acoustix_-_California_Dreamin.mp3.html