Written by: Josaline Leasure
You would think after last night’s concert the Chorale would be all tired out, right? Wrong!
Today (July 20th) is the third day of workshop and we are just getting into it! When I first started, which was 3 years ago, I was not a morning person at all and didn’t like to socially interact with people until about 10 in the morning… but the Chorale has helped change that by offering a morning mindset.
A morning mindset is something you do in the morning to get your mind awake. We offer three at the chorale: journaling, running, and disc golf. Can you guess which one I do? It’s disc golf! If you’ve never played before, disc golf is throwing a frisbee-like disc into a basket from a concrete pad in the least amount of throws. The reason why I love disc golfing so much is because of nature. Nature is so peaceful and beautiful, lots of people miss it because they’re sleeping! It really helps me wake up in the morning and be more social.
Breakfast is also another important part of the day because it’s where people get to know you the most. What’s really cool about our breakfast is that we sit with our opus, which is made up of 2 to 3 staff members and 6 to 7 singers. What makes breakfast such a memorable time this year for me is Matt Downing! This is my first time being in an opus with Matt and I’ve heard that he has a such a funny and bright character, so he makes breakfast so much more fun. My favorite way he does this is by bringing this big MadLibs book, that’s how we start off every morning!
Rehearsal is also such a big part of our day, obviously. One thing I love about soprano and alto sectionals is that we all sound well connected and well blended. The song that I felt that we were most connected in was “Love Will Rise Again.” It’s such a pretty song and one of my favorites. Now, in full rehearsal… it was DEFINITELY “Praise His Holy Name.” It was really cool having all the parts together and finally hearing them all blend. The sound in the room was very resonant and so beautiful that you could feel the music and every part of your body and it felt so energetic.
Now, we don’t sing 24/7, so we get a break in the afternoon. Today we had an electives, and my elective was The Alexander Technique taught by Josh Senn. The Alexander Technique is something to help singers and performers relax and get more in tune with your body and mind. During the elective I felt myself relax and listen more to what my body needed. I also learned how to release the tension in certain parts of my body. Overall it was a very insightful elective and I really enjoyed it.
During the evening of our day, we had dinner. The interesting part of dinner is that in our assigned group we all answered the question of the day the exact same! We all chose mozzarella as our favorite cheese.
To close our evening we watched Sister Act II: Back In The Habit. It was such a funny and good movie and a great way to end a Monday!
Well that’s it all for day 3. See you guys later!
P.S Happy birthday to Natalie!