Elias Condakes

31 July 2018
Choral Lab Ensemble
Sara Carson

Choral Lab Reflection - 7/31

I’m really excited for this coming concert, if only because I’m at a point in the rehearsal process
where this is just fun for me. I am really happy to see exactly how far we have come as an
ensemble, and being able to run through the program is a lot of fun. The only thing that I have
noticed is how quickly the agenda can change, and how quickly Dr. Barber works to make sure
that Janita and Sarah are both on track to making sure that they’re doing everything within their
power to give us the best show they can. It’s almost as though the concentrated efforts that we
have during rehearsal are too fast for me to process fully because things can change so quickly.
Sectionals is still important for me personally right now. Love and Pizen has gotten
significantly better than it was before but still needs work because the major/minor/major
change during the “don’t you get bit by a rattlesnake” is the current bane of my existence.
However, Dr. Barber spent far more time today on having us get the rhythm correct than she did
on the pitches, and I felt like it really should have been the other way around. Then again, she
has a doctorate and I do not so maybe I should just shut up?
The new placement has thrown me off a little bit on the risers because I really enjoyed
sitting next to my two colleagues. To my immediate right is a soprano, and it’s not as though I
can’t hear my own part, it just made me happy to be surrounded by my part as that usually does
not happen.
John Saw Duh Numbuh falling apart at the end of rehearsal was a bit of a let-down. I
really do love that number, and it’s not as though I didn’t know how to read the music or even
where the intervals were, but I felt like the feedback for the song was never really geared
towards my part and then to flat out not be able to get the ending at all just made me sad as I
know this song deserves a bit more love.