An Amazing Performance

I'll be honest.  A common stereotype is that most high school performance groups are notoriously bad.  The school offers no support to the programs, they have next-to-nothing funding and the shows are poorly attended, usually by parents and teachers who are obligated to sit and watch.  It's bad for morale and the art suffers for it.

But today, I had the great joy of watching some very talented students.  I went to see the annual University of South Florida Festival of Voices.  There were students from my last tour performing in the show and I wished to support them.  Both me and my fabulous hat.  (See below)

(These are the kids from my tour.  Go Encore!)

It's always fun to watch a group of choral singers.  There are usually two types: You have the ones who are aware of their stage presence, how to hold their posture, how to position their face when gracefully gliding from one note to the next.  Such was the case with the amazing kids from my tour, high schoolers from Coral Springs Charter School.  Their high school choral group is called Encore.  What an amazing and talented group of kids!

Then there's there other type of choral performer; people in the same group who are not aware of their stage presence. People who slump, slouch, keep their heads buried in their music notes so we can't see their face, people who have no idea how ridiculous they look when they screw up the muscles in their face or crane their necks to hit a note.  The vocal coach within me wanted to straighten their necks and hold a mirror up to their faces so they could see how goofy they looked.  And the worst of them all, the people who have dead eyes, the creepy thousand yard stare.  It gives me the chills.

Dead people, neck craners and face contortionists aside, the music was beautiful.  And Encore stood out of a group of 400 singers, not including musicians.  Many props to the director of Encore, Julie Webb.  She has  done right by all of those kids! 

Seeing their bright faces took me back to my days in high school.  This was of course a bad memory.  I was a Drama student and the Drama Club received derision, not support.  I remember performing my heart out in plays that were rehearsed for weeks, only to be attended by maybe 25 students per show who had to see the play for a required assignment in English class.  Yep, those were the days. 

I hope that Encore and thousands of other creative programs continue to get the support that they need and deserve.  Whatever the football team gets, the arts should get too!

Okay, stepping off my soap box.

With or without support, performing shaped me into the (odd) person that I am today and I wouldn't change it for the world.  I live and breathe art and I will continue to do so every day.

Until next time,

~Story Siren