"Just the Chords"

What an amazing week was.  "Just the Chords" was the name of the concert that was performed by the YC choirs and it was named such because it was 7 choirs performing an entire concert of ALL a cappella music.  No piano accompaniment, not even a piano on stage, because it was all tuned with one note from a pitch pipe.  Not only was that exciting to get to witness, but I was in charge of the entire show from the theater's side which meant that I spent most of my time learning about and fine tuning the sound.

The week began on Monday morning when I got to hear the first group, the Angelorum, at their rehearsal.  This choir is made up entirely of women and is a very select group so it is always a joy to hear them.  They have such a beautiful sound.  There are only twelve or thirteen women in the group, but they project quite well so they didn't need much help from the two microphones that I had suspended from the ceiling.

The idea behind the ceiling microphones is to help the singers get a little boost.  In a large hall like ours, choirs have a bit of a hard time getting the sound to resonate well through.  Bringing the speakers up to a level where you can almost not tell that they are being used at all helps a choir not sound so flat and lifeless.  This is not so much the case for a solo singer.  You almost want them to sound like they are coming out of the speakers because they are, most of the time, standing right at the microphone on stage.  Another thing I learned to do when using these mics was to delay the sound coming out of the speakers.  If the choir is standing behind the speakers, which is most often the case, you can use the soundboard to delay the speakers by whatever distance they are in front of the choir.  This results in an effect that makes the speaker sound almost nonexistent because they are waiting until the sound from the choir reaches them before sending the signal out.  Thus, no echo effect because all of the sound is moving as one and gaining small momentum from the speakers while the speakers aren't creating their own wave.

As the week progressed, I got to hear the other six choirs, some twice due to twice a week rehearsal times.  The next choir was the Master Chorale.  This group mostly sings large master works by great composers but occasionally has some fun with smaller pieces as was the case for this concert.  Its quite a large group, made up of forty-five to fifty singers, so they needed less help with sound than the Angelorum.

The next choir was a mix of two choirs.  Sadly, one of our choirs, the Vocal Ensemble, has dwindled in numbers so for this concert they joined with the Concert Choir and sang three songs together.  I had some fun with this combined group and at the end of one of their more "uplifting" pieces, I added a little reverberation.  When they were finished singing, the last chord rang through the hall and took a second to dissipate.  The whole choir, who were completely unaware of what I'd done, said "whoa! Go is!" which just cracked me up.

The Community Chorale has grown in numbers and is up to sixty-five singers now.  What a huge and wonderful sound they have.  I absolutely loved it.  Something new that this choir brought was solos.  Time for me to bring up the stage mics for them while keeping the choir balanced.  Not too difficult, but more fun for me.

Gospel choir, which is brand new to YC this semester, was quite a different beast than all of the previous.  A few solos to mic and a lot of upbeat music was pretty easy for me to work with.  I did use one of my other reverbs because it helped to give everything a "small chapel" kind of sound which helped with the feelings of the music.  They all really seemed to enjoy it and got really into the feeling as well.

Cantamos at rehearsal

Then came Cantamos, formerly the Chamber Singers.  Twenty or so singers who, for some reason, moved forward and sang from the floor instead of the risers.  I was forced to take out all delays because they were right next to the main speakers.  A fun group, they sang something less traditional and funny, a jungle piece, and an all choral version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Even though that covers all seven choirs, there were a few other additions.  All of the women from all choirs sang a song together, some from the stage and some from the balcony.  All of the men also sang a song which was a blast because men's choirs in Prescott are hard to find and have such a great sound. And finally, everyone from all seven choirs, over 175 singers, crammed onto stage for two songs.

And just to give you an idea of how busy I was, not only was I running sound all week, but I also made sure the stage was properly set every day and took notes on what I wanted for lighting during the concert as well as set up the light board for my friend that would be running the lights for me during the concert.  I'll get more into lights in the next few posts as I am more of a lighting guy than sound.

The concert itself went off beautifully with very few if no glitches and was attended by about 500 people which is about half of the capacity of the hall.  For those who don't know, that's great for our local junior college choirs to have that many show.

'Til next time.

Matthew

P.S.  Sorry I didn't get more photos to share.  I will try harder next time to remember to take out my phone and snap some.

2012-2013 Season Beginning

This year has already begun to fly by.  So many fun things have happened so far that I could type for days and fill up far too much space telling you about them.  Here is a quick recap of the shows I have been a part of so far this season with a little info about each.  The rest of my posts from here on out will each be about individual shows and more detailed.

From www.marychapincarpenter.com

Our season opener this year was a concert by a recent inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Mary Chapin Carpenter.  That was an amazing day.  She and the band/crew were very easy going and awesome people.  They rolled in at 8:30 in the morning and were here until about 11:00 that night.  We unloaded everything, built the stage, had a great show, tore down and reloaded them all in that time.  Thank you to everyone involved on that day, especially to Mary for such an amazing show and for being such a cool gal.

After Mary, we had a few smaller, though no less important, shows.  We had a satellite broadcast of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' from the National Theatre of Great Britain, a concert by the Prescott Pops Symphony, and a satellite broadcast of the Manhattan Short Film Festival.  These were all slightly more easy shows to setup and run, but they all had their little quirks.

The next big show to visit was the National Circus of the People's Republic of China.  Wow.  That was not only fun to watch but educational for some of us as well.  45 Chinese unloaded from a bus and started rehearsing at 3:00 in the afternoon and from that moment on it was a spectacle to see.  They worked hard, but were laughing and enjoying everything they did from moment one.  It was awesome to see people love what they do as much as this  group did.  Then it was suddenly quiet.  Apparently it was pre-show nap time. They were all sleeping on the stage or in the dressing rooms an for an hour before getting ready for the show.  Then as soon as the show was over, they tore everything down and were on their way to the next city faster that any group I have ever seen at our theatre.  Great show, great crew, keep up the smiles!

Since then there have been three more shows.  One was the Prescott Film Festival showing of indy film Must Come Down.  Very simple to run and a really cute film.  Then came one of my favorite moments, the live broadcast of L'Elisir d'Amore from The Metropolitan Opera House in New York.  What a blast to watch this amazing cast perform the comedic opera from Donizetti.

Finally, we are down to the most recent of events in my world.  I think I am going to save this for my next post since it is still so fresh in my mind and I can give you more info of all the happenings of the week.

'Til next time,

Matthew

Welcome to My World

I guess I should start by saying that this has been quite an exciting adventure for me, which is why I feel the need to share it with you all.

YCPAC

The main lobby and snack-bar

Quick background.  While taking classes as a music major at Yavapai College as well as working as the Assistant to the Director of Choral Music Activities there, I was approached by one of the staff of the YC Performing Arts Center about helping out during a show.  Having started college a bit late in life, I have a lot of experience in many things so I thought this would be a good opportunity, even though I had very little idea of what it might entail.  Turns out, it is one of the greatest jobs I have ever had the privilege to occupy.  From that day I only worked a few shows a year, mostly only when I was available and needed at the same time which was not very often.  Then about six months ago, something clicked in my brain during my regular, boring and annoying retail job.  With all of my experience, why not contact YC and see if there was any extra work for my to do or training that I could undertake to help me begin my move away from a "job" and into a career.  Since that day I have spent time as a Stage Manager, Lighting Director, and Sound Director for many different shows.

Under the balcony (getting ready for MET live)

Looking out from the stage right portal

These writings are my outlet to not only share my experiences with you all, but to give you an inside look at the inner workings of a live theater.  Not all of the workings - some things are best left to the imagination - but enough to help you appreciate the work that goes into a show.

Backstage with the shell in for a YC choir concert

One disclaimer... In an effort to keep myself and YCPAC out of any trouble, I will not be posting any pictures of events which bear any copyrights.  I will however post photos whenever possible.

Happy Readings,
Matthew





P.S. If you live in Prescott, AZ or are in the area and want to see a show, visit www.YCPAC.com for info, show times, and tickets.