I was in Amira's car on the way down. We braved DC traffic and carefully drove through a thunderstorm, but we made it to Durham safe and sound (sa-ha-ha-ou-ound). We arrived just in time for the collegiate competition on Friday night. Both of the final groups, the Acabelles and All-Night Yahtzee, were amazing and it was a ton of fun to watch.
We had a lot of great times as a group over the course of the weekend. I loved the silly evenings and spontaneous adventures. A particular highlights were hanging out in the hotel laughing at old Outskirts videos, going out for post-dinner milkshakes, collectively fangirling at the various aca-celebs at the festival, and driving home singing Disney songs with Amira, Marilee, Erica, and Emily.
Of course, we also thoroughly enjoyed and learned tons from all of the workshops on Saturday and Sunday. Here's what I learned from some of the workshops:
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| Sing Like You Mean It with Ariel Arbisser |
by Ariel Arbisser of The Funx
In this workshop, we learned how to interpret and perform solos.
As Arbisser put it, the most important part of exploring a solo is learning how to "live truthfully in imaginary circumstances." She suggested:
- Think of the solo like a monologue - what are you saying?
- The more specific you can make the emotion, the better
- For example, if you are singing to a romantic interest, who is it? What is your relationship? Why are you singing? What has this person done? Create the entire scenario.
- Feel emotions honestly
- Lyrics don't always match the tone of the song
- Interpret the lyrics - you are not tied to the original interpretation!
- Follow the meaning of the song rather than the tone of the music
- Eye contact with the audience puts you in control
Separately, she also gave some advice for groups designing choreography. Specifically, make sure the choreography adds to the meaning of the song; choreography for the sake of having something to do is distracting.
You Be the Judge |
| Marilee and PriPriLuLu jammin' out |
by Michael Marcus & RARB Staff
This workshop focused on how to create memorable and original a cappella pieces. They focused particularly on reviewing albums, but there was a lot of good general information as well.
The most memorable advice from that workshop was:
- Focus on the emotional impact of a song - ask will I remember this tomorrow?
- Think about the narrative arc of the set
- Use the strengths of your particular group
- Don't try to mimic a 5 person sound with 12 singers
- Silence is useful - as long as it is purposeful
- Balance repetition and variation
- Dynamics are important
- The bridge should not sound like the rest of the song
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| Musical Leadership with Diana Galeano |
This workshop focused on strategies for effectively leading an a cappella group.
- Warm-ups
- think about why you're warming up
- use warm-ups to focus the group
- use passages, chords from the pieces that the group is working on
- If you want a standard, set and enforce it
- The group needs drive to work through common goals
- motivation comes from a director
- give feedback positively
- use quartets
- Use dynamic exercises in warmups
- Breath support exercises
- If the group needs a break, take it
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| Rob Dietz explaining The Preparation Wheel |
by Rob Dietz of the Funx
Dietz used a method called "The Preparation Wheel" to explain how to get the most out of a song in rehearsal.
The preparation wheel has four sections: the Genesis, the Technical Character, Crafting the Arc, and the Emotional Core.
The Genesis
- Why am I singing this song?
- What do I want to communicate?
- Discuss the song as a group - crystallize a basic understanding
- How does the song fit into your set?
The Technical Character
- Model physically what you want to see
- Showing is better than telling
- Tuning
- Can address this in warmups
- Start in unison, expand from there
- Build chords in both directions (up and down)
- Hold and shift complex chords
- Blend
- Vowel matching
- Hand shapes for the different vowels
- Rhythm
- Clapping, stepping the beat
- Speaking rhythmically in a higher register
- Dynamics
- Concentric circles - show volume on a physical plane
- Assign colors (red/blue) to mood
- Model as the leader
- Articulation
- Tempo
Crafting the Arc
- The mirror exercise
- Tableaux
- Free movement
- Rope-pull exercise - phrasing, resistance
The Emotional Core
- Discuss and reflect
- Find the emotional center of the song
- This is where Arbisser's workshop could come in
In general, the seminars taught us how to work together as a group, get the most out of a rehearsal, and perform a song effectively. By exploring the seminars together, we have grown as a individual singers and as a cohesive group.
Looking forward, I think the group can achieve great things this year using what we learned at SoJam. We work together well and are able to navigate musically complex pieces. This year, we hope to grow the group in new directions. We are trying out more complex arrangements, pursuing musical opportunities outside the Haverbubble, and participating in competitions, particularly the ICCAs in a few months! I can't wait to see what great things the Outskirts will do next.
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