Jefferson’s Blog

Hi Friends,

On this post I want to make a review of last friday and sunday concerts.

Vocal Jazz Concerts (Friday, March 24)
It was a great concert, I had a lot of fun, I wish we sang more than three songs. The Studio Singers sang really well, much better than the rehearsel. Vocal Flight was also good, what I hate was that I had to stand for about 40 minutes to watch them, since the hall was almost full and there were no empty chairs left. Darryl Rowe was very good, I think this was the first time for me to watch a professional jazz performer. The rhythm section (bass, piano and drum) was also good. Overall, it was a really great concert. Oh don’t forget that we also had a really good audience.
One thing that was new to me was that a lot of improvisation during the song and after one singer / player finish to improvise all the audiences would clap their hand while the song just keep move on. Totally different with classical, which you can not clap while the song is being played or even sometimes between movements.

De Anza College Choral Concert (Sunday, March 26)
The Concert was just O.K in my opinion. I think we could do much better than our performance. I will devide this review into four sections, since there are four types of performances.
1. The Vintage Singers
We sang In Resurrectione Tua, Christe (Jakob Handl) and The Sixty-Seventh Psalm (Charles E.Ives). Well people said that the first piece was ok, but for me it was awful, since bass (especially me) missed a lot of notes. We did much better on the rehearsel. The second piece was ok too, we could do a little better, but I think it was good enough for the audiences.
2. The Women’s Chorus
They sang Sheep May Safely Graze from Cantata BVW 208 (J.S. Bach) and Walk to Caesarea (David Zhavi/Arr. by Bonia Shur). Well as what I expected, the women’s chorus performance was boring, not because the songs was boring, but their vocal skill made it boring. Some of them have a good technique but some of them not. They did not have a good blend and support. But I gave them props for their effort, since the members was not a student but just old women (some of them young though)
3. The De Anza Chorale
They sang Gloria In Excelsis (W.A. Mozart), Die Nachtigall (Felix Mendelssohn), and Take My Heart (Orlando di Lasso). Their performance much better than last quarter performance. They were good in the first and third songs since it was a fast tempo songs, but they were not good on the second songs. It was a slow tempo song and they did not have strong support. Remember!!! that slow tempo songs needs a stronger support than fast tempo songs.
4. The Combined Choirs
We sang Requiem (by Lothar Bandermann). It was just ok, what could you expect from about 100 people with different techniques level? We sang the pieces pretty well, but I’m pretty sure that we did not have a good blend and we had a lot of rough spot. The worst one was the last piece Final Commendation: In Paradisum, damnn!!! some of the altos made a mistake on counting the beat, made them to sing several beats before they should, luckily on the middle part when there were men’s part the tempo was back. The orchestra was pretty good, but I think they could do better. The organ was just O.K since she made some crucial mistakes on beats and notes.
One thing that made me happy was I sang much better on this piece compare to the Vintage Singers performance.
The soloists Jeanny Fishback and Tori Grayum were excelent, gives them props.
I should gives props to Lothar Bandermann, first I think this requiem was just o.k, it was not a really good piece, but at the end it was a pretty good piece. Oh, I also can keep the music and I got his sign YEAH!!!

Small Concert (Monday, March 27)
So on Monday, March 27, the Vintage Singers had a small concert for students and faculty in A-11. We sang the The sixty-seventh psalm and requiem. This times we only had piano. We sang much better than sunday’s concert. Since only the Vintage Singers who were singing so we had more blend and accuracy. The Piano was also good (gives props to Megan Chen). Overall it was a good small concert.

Well overall, it was a good concerts week. I had a lot of fun with the vintage singers and vocal jazz members. I’m looking forward to sing with them again on April 10, 2006.
I should have the CD for both concerts by late april. So if you guys want to hear my concerts, feel free to contact me.

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