The Cardinal Chorale gathered this morning to begin our Summer tour. As we assembled, members greeted each other with smiles and hugs, for we have not seen each other since we shared our love of music on Valentine’s Day weekend.
Everyone knew there was a long day ahead of us; we had over sixty songs to review and learn before we departed for our tour the next afternoon. Our tour subs, especially, were completely unfamiliar with most of the music. We knew it seemed to be an impossible feat, but we were motivated to do the best we could.
Throughout the day, we rehearsed as a full ensemble, in our voice sections, and men/women groups. Members were excited to sing some of their favorite tunes. In fact, every single song in the Chorale’s repertoire is considered someone’s favorite. The men were excited to sing Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time,” something they have wanted to do since last year’s Cardinal Chorale Workshop. Our pizza lunch aided in increasing our energy to continue rehearsals.
After lunch, we rehearsed more music, and made great progress. During rehearsal time, stories were shared about tours past making everyone laugh and feel nostalgic about previous adventures and excited about making new ones! After some more rehearsing, we had some awesome jambalaya, fruit, and cheesecake.
After the wonderful dinner provided to us, the Chorale gathered together to rehearse music yet again! After running through some more pieces, the boys rehearsed one of the all men’s songs and the ladies listened to the Concordia Choir’s recording of Rock-a Ma Soul.
The Chorale then gathered as a whole to share special challenges with one another to make this year the best Chorale tour yet!
After some prodding from Matt Downing and CRS, some of the group auditioned for solos/duets and everyone did a fantastic job!
Finally, all of the singers gathered up their luggage and headed off to their host homes to enjoy some relaxation time before going to bed on time and being ready to get up in the morning for a full new day of singing and excitement!
