Headmistress Powell
December 26, 2010 11:56 PM
Midsummer Variety Concert by Headmistress Powell
The performers had been working hard, the voting forms were ready for the audience, and Sonora had a special guest in attendance. After almost a full school year of exploiting all her educational contacts, Headmistress Powell had finally found someone to succeed her for the new term. His name was David Regal, and had been able to come to Sonora especially to see the Midsummer Concert and see more of the school and students that would be in his care at the end of the summer. Sadi had met him many years ago at a conference on Ancient Runes in Nevada, and had only kept very vaguely in touch, mostly through hearing about him in educational papers than communicating directly. It was very odd putting someone in charge of the school who hadn’t ever taught there before. However none of the teaching staff desired the administrative role over their teaching roles, which Sadi could completely understand; she had missed being in the classroom herself. Nevertheless, David would undoubtedly fit in just fine with time, and be a real asset to the school. He was currently occupying the seat next to hers at the back of Cascade, which had been rearranged and charmed to provide a large stage area where the staff table usually stood, and rows of seats steadily inclined with the highest seats towards the back of the room, looking down on the stage. There were no curtains or lighting, because the performance would only last the afternoon, and the extra accessories had seemed unnecessary; this concert was about showcasing students’ efforts and abilities, not the faculty’s capacity to transfigure the school.David Regal had to admit that he had been surprised when Sadi had approached him to fill in the position of Headmaster at Sonora. It had been a pleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. After thinking it through and discussing it with his wife, he had accepted the job. After so many years of teaching in a private magical school, it would surely be a change to take charge of such a prestigious and large school. It excited and frightened him at the same time, it was a really big change, and it would take some time to get used to it. Quite honestly, he had never thought about being part of a school’s administration, he loved teaching too much. So, when he had been invited to watch the Midsummer Concert, he couldn’t decline, it was the perfect opportunity to get to know his staff and alumnus. He sat besides Sadi, and his brown eyes scanned the Cascade Hall, it was the first time he set foot on the school’s grounds, he had to admit that what he had heard about it had not done it justice. Sonora was impressive, and he was certain, the concert would be too. He smiled at Sadi, and sat quietly waiting for it to start.
After lunch, which had been organised slightly earlier than usual, students had been asked to gather (or remain) in the Hall. The performers had the privilege of the first row of seats, and could watch the other performers when not onstage themselves. When their turn came, each performer could make his or her way to the stage via a set of steps at each side. There was a small backstage area that could hold six or so students, just in case it would be needed for the group act that was a play. The acts would be introduced not by a staff member as during the last concert (Simon Tellerman had since progressed to his own Vegas act), but by the current Head Boy and Girl. Jera had volunteered to announce the individual acts, and assigned the group acts to Thomas. Therefore, according to the order of acts that had been randomly selected, Jera would be introducing the first performance. When the students had gathered and largely filled the seating area, the Head Girl made her way to the stage. Public speaking was not one of her favourite activities, but her confidence had developed sufficiently over her seven years of magical schooling that she could at least talk to the student body without feeling the need to hurl.
“Welcome everyone to Sonora’s Midsummer concert,” she began, her voice signalling that anyone who hadn’t yet found a seat should do so quickly. “There are eight student acts to be performed, and then everyone will be able to vote. The categories are Best Group performance and Best Individual performance. There will also be an overall House winner, decided by the staff,” she reminded them of the competition. “I’ll be introducing the individual acts, and Thomas will be introducing the group acts,” she gestured towards the Head Boy. “While the votes are counted, you’ll be free to purchase cakes, from, um, either of the bake sales,” – The DISCUSS table run by Coach Pierce and Professor McKindy had been strategically placed at the other side of the room from the table run by a group of seventh year girls composed of the Smythe sisters and Chelsea Brockert, whose goods were being used to raise awareness of WAIL - “and before the winners are announced, the Headmistress will announce next year’s Head Boy and Head Girl.” Many of those whose names had been on the voting ballot were actually performing, so they might have a particularly memorable concert. “First, to start us off, I’d like to welcome to the stage the first group performance, which will be a choir, comprised of Dana Smythe, Alison Sinclair, Edmond Carey, Jane Carey, Samantha Hamilton and Kirstenna Melcher.” Jera led the applause and quickly made her way off the stage so the group could make their way onto it.
After the choir, the next performance was a balance act by Jose, then the first musical solo by Demelza. Then there would be a group dance act, followed by Jessica and her ukulele. The group play was up next, then it would be Holly singing, and Juri’s act would be the last.
Subthreads: Starting off the choir by Dana Smythe with Kirstenna Melcher, Samantha Hamilton, Jane and Edmond Carey, Alison Sinclair
A Balance Act by Jose Hernandez, Pecari
Please sit, relax, and enjoy the show by Adelita Garcia with Charlotte Abbott
<i>Saving You</i> by Juri Dahlgren
Colors of the Wind by Holly Greer
<i>The answer, my friend...</i> by Demelza Eagle
'No Rest For The Wicked' Part One by The Group Play with
VOTING BALLOTS by Headmistress Powell with
0
Headmistress Powell
Midsummer Variety Concert
0
Headmistress Powell
1
5
Dana Smythe
January 02, 2011 4:33 PM
Starting off the choir by Dana Smythe
Sitting in the front rows near the stage was a fair compensation for those who had elected to perform and so couldn't vote, Dana thought. Unfortunately the choir had been selected as the first performance, which meant they were literally opening the oncert and setting the mood. If they were awful people would remember it, but if they were good the following acts might push this out of mind for those sitting watching. On the positive side, at least Dana didn't have to sit very long worrying about how their act would go, and she would be free to simply enjoy the rest of the concert as a spectator. Going first was probably better than going last.Once the Head Girl had introduced them, Dana led the rest of the choir (as small as it was) onto the stage. She was glad she had taken charge by creating the choir herself, because it meant she got final say in all the decisions, and hence she was as comfrotable as she could be with the final result. She had decided, for example, that the singers all dress in school unifrom robes. Not only did this make them sort of smart, and resemble a proper group, but also the range and contrast of personal clothing chosen by the members of the group would simply have looked ridiculous on stage.
Dana had also chosen the song (but had heard no argument) and although the original sheet music had two parts, Dana had allowed the group to deviate from these parts for the occasional note. It helped to add more depth to the song, not to mention made singers more comfortable. For example, Edmond's voice was considerably lower, and Samantha's considerably higher, than Dana's own singing range. Essentially they had gone with what worked best, and with practise had come together as a group to create a great performace. Now all they had to do was show the rest of the school what they had accomplished.
Once on stage, the singers took their positions. As there were six of them, they stood in a small semi-circle, arranged by voice with Edmond on one end and Samantha on the other. Before they began, Dana would introduce the song. Stepping forward from the others a little, the fifth year took a deep breath. "Hello, everyone. We're going to sing a song most of you will recognize. It's called 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' and we hope you enjoy our rendition." After much deliberation, she had decided to run with a wizarding children's song that she hoped most people would already know. She had found a version in the music section of the library that had two parts written in, which she thought would sound nice and offer more variety than everyoine just singing the same tune. It had been modified just a little to account for the variety of voices. They were only a small group and didn't have much time to practise so she hadn't wanted to do anything too fancy, but this seemed sufficient for a good show. They had practised well, and Dana was pleased with their progress.
To keep the singers in tune, Dana's wand provided the ticking of a metronome. The wands of the other singers provided their first note to cue the singers in. They had no accompaniment other than this because Dana didn't want the complication, and she thought their voices sounded nice enough without the distraction of instrumentals. She hoped she'd made the right choice.
Returning to stand with the rest fo the group, Dana took out her wand and made sure the others did the same. "Remember to breathe, smile, project, and have fun," she said quietly. "Starting notes, everyone." This was the cue for the other singers to produce their first note. Following this, Dana muttered the spell that started her metronome, and after four beats they began to sing.
0
Dana Smythe
Starting off the choir
142
Dana Smythe
0
5
Kirstenna Melcher
January 05, 2011 2:02 PM
Joining in by Kirstenna Melcher
Kirstenna was super excited for the Midsummer Variety Show,despite it not taking place in the middle of summer. She had decided to take part in the choir that Dana Smythe, a girl in Quentin's year, had put together and had enjoyed everything about since. She wasn't the least bit nervous, Kirstenna didn't care about winning. She was just glad to get to sing, even if it was with other people.Actually, singing with other people was better. That was more like on Glee. Kirstenna wanted to have the fun and closeness that the Glee club members had on the show. It would be really neat if the choir could be a permanent thing. Of course, Kirstenna lacked the organizational skills to get one going. She wasn't very grounded in practical matters.
The one thing that she was kind of disappointed about though was that they were wearing their school robes instead of costumes. Kirstenna definitely they should all wear the same thing-after all, on Glee, the members of New Directions all wore the same things for their performances-but school robes weren't particularly interesting. That was what they wore everyday. She could have gotten them costumes, if they'd asked for her. Granted, they would have been from the circus, but still.
Kirstenna didn't mind that much though. After all, that was pretty much the only thing they all had that was the same so it kind of made sense to wear them. Besides, what did she care if she got to sing? The Teppenpaw adored singing, it was her true passion in life and she'd been told she had a really good voice.
The second year followed the others onto the stage, after Jera Valson introduced them. Kirstenna smiled brightly as she took her place in the semi-circle. She waited for Dana to introduce the song, then took out her wand to cue her first note. She began to sing with the others.
11
Kirstenna Melcher
Joining in
161
Kirstenna Melcher
0
5
Samantha Hamilton
January 07, 2011 1:51 PM
That's what I do best by Samantha Hamilton
As the concert came closer, Samantha was glad she'd decided to join in. She'd gotten to know Jane and Kirstenna bteer, and discovered she liked both of them. neither were the sort of person she would usually make friends with, but she'd discovered her life at Sonora was quite a lot different from her life outside it. For one thing, there was magic. For another, only six people in total wanted to be in the choir. She knew Sonora was a small school, but in her other three schools the choirs had been very popular, particularly with the girls. Samantha guessed Sonora was just a different world and she was still getting used to it.On the day of the concert she was ready. She wasn't nervous to sing because she thought they all sounded pretty good in their last few rehearsals. For her part, she wasn't great at the low notes, but she found the high notes easy, and everyone else helped her to keep in tune. She'd also learned a new spell to get her wand to make the sound of specific notes that helped cue them in.
Once she'd cast that spell on stage, and Dana cast the one that kept them in tune, Samantha started to sing. She liked the song - it wasn't one she'd ever heard before, but then her parents were Muggles, so she'd never had occasion to hear it before. It had been easy for her to learn, and she liked the words - Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog - whoever thought of putting those things into a song had been a genius. The chorus was fun, too, and singing it in their two parts somehow made the choir sound bigger than the six people it really was.
She sang smiling, enjoying the final product of all their rehearsing. All too soon they came to the end of the song. Samantha sang good and high, the notes ringing out in her voice that was by no means spectacular, but it was pleasant enough - and she hit the right notes, which was the most important thing. She finished the final line, 'Something Wicked This Way Comes,' almost with regret, because hse'd had so much fun. Luckily there was still the rest of the acts to go, and watching them would keep her entertained.
0
Samantha Hamilton
That's what I do best
159
Samantha Hamilton
0
5
Jane and Edmond Carey
January 07, 2011 8:03 PM
We're not bad at it. by Jane and Edmond Carey
“It really doesn’t bother you,” Jane had asked Edmond just before the Concert, “that the rest of us are all girls?”Edmond had looked genuinely confused by her question. “Why would it?” he’d asked. “I doubt it’s much of a secret at this point that I belong to the school of thought promoting women’s intellectual equality to men.”
Jane had been wondering if her brother was either a completely hopeless case when it came to interacting with or relating to the rest of his species or secretly an evil genius controlling them all from behind a front of complete hopelessness when it came to interacting with or relating to the rest of his species ever since. In either case, she thought portions of her family were officially doomed. There was no other possible outcome when he had been here four years to her two and she was still the one who’d become better socialized.
The one thing they agreed on was that it didn’t bother them that their act was going first. Either things would go well or they wouldn’t; it made no difference if they went first or last or anywhere in the middle. So, other than Jane having to step on Edmond’s foot to shut him up when he began muttering in confusion about why Jera Valson introduced them when they were a group act and she’d just said that Thomas Fitzgerald was introducing the group acts, they were able to find their places on the stage without difficulty or incident.
She’d decided, ultimately, to go toward the higher part, but not to strain her throat trying to hit the highest notes. Though the presentation wasn’t long enough for fainting to actually be an issue, she noticed that she and Edmond had both assumed the stance their old music teacher, Master Compton, had screamed into their heads: standing up straight, arms flat at their sides, but knees very definitely not locked. As for remembering the song, that was easy; it was short, in English, and not overly complex. A far cry from Master Compton. Jane was able to sing it without having to try to remember the words.
The hardest thing for her – and, she imagined, for Edmond – was to follow Dana’s advice about smiling. Their first music teacher, Miss Catherine, had always said they should smile while they sang, but Master Compton had nearly gone into a fit when he heard about that. He said it distorted the sound and was utterly unprofessional, a word Jane would forever associate with violence because of the way he’d slammed his pointer into the lectern so hard that the pointer broke when he said it. She still couldn’t believe that her parents hadn’t fired him after that incident, but he’d gone on, in the course of two years, to damage a piano and several chairs before leaving completely of his own free will to fulfill his lifelong dream of conducting a professional chorus. That was what a genius could get away with, and why Jane very much regretted that she wasn’t one.
Nor was she ever going to be a professional singer, even if she somehow got disowned and had to support herself, but she felt she did not only the best job she could do, but an objectively good one as well. When they were done, she was smiling without having to remind herself and took her robes in her hands to curtsy, as she’d been taught to after performances, before reminding herself not to do that. She thought they had gotten the Concert off to a very nice start.
0
Jane and Edmond Carey
We're not bad at it.
0
Jane and Edmond Carey
0
5
Alison Sinclair
January 07, 2011 9:28 PM
I'm doing okay for now. by Alison Sinclair
It was illogical to be nervous about performing in front of the school.Alison knew that. She might have normally worried about being mocked for working with second years, but since her roommate was directing, she thought the brunt of funny looks would go to Edmond Carey, who probably wouldn’t notice. She might have also worried about her singing not being up to par, but that was the great thing about being in a choir. Her voice would not really stand out enough for people to make comments about it. She might even have worried about looking stupid, but they were in their school robes, so they looked no worse than they did every day in that regard. And there were no real consequences to doing badly, so that took care of it being like the last time she’d felt really nervous, which had been the first time she ever cast a spell. So she had no good reason to be nervous.
Since she wasn’t anywhere near the Aladren ideal, though, she didn’t find that her awareness of those points did much to make the being nervous go away.
She’d become a prefect at the beginning of the year, and didn’t go out of her way to keep a low profile, but she’d still felt like she did a reasonably good job of just blending in here at Sonora. That was never a position she had imagined she’d feel comfortable in, but since she’d come in late to the game, with everyone else already knowing each other, she had come to the conclusion that it was one of the better outcomes she could have hoped for. Going on stage, though, was going to make her stand out, since the vast majority of the school’s population had opted to participate in the Concert by voting instead of by performing, and to make it worse, the Head Girl election results were going to be announced. There was no way she’d won – she had voted for herself, but that was as much because she thought it would be utterly pathetic to get no votes as it was because she actually thought she would do well in the post – but she wanted to get the confirmation over with sooner rather than later, and the Headmistress wasn’t playing along.
At least the choir got to go first. If they’d gone last, and she’d had to wait for two things and then have them happen back to back, she thought her unexpected concern about what her classmates really thought of her would have driven her nuts, and this school already had more than its required number of people who met or nearly met that description.
She’d opted to take the lower part, both because that was the one she was used to singing on those occasions when she was in Philly and her mother insisted she accompany the family to church and because it was more comfortable through most of the song.
She’d had issues with giggling a few times through early rehearsals, but when she was able to get through “Double, double, toil and trouble” all right and launch into the long list of ingredients for the hypothetical potion without it recurring at the worst possible time, under the pressures of the stage, she decided she had officially gotten that problem under control. Never her curiosity about how something from a Muggle play ended up as a wizard’s children’s song, but that was because she found it amusing enough to think about but not worth the trouble of doing the research for.
She noticed that the other members of the choir were looking pleased with themselves at the end before she noticed that she was, too. Something about completing something public without anything horrible or embarrassing happening, especially without reality-warping spells or potions in effect as far as she knew, was extremely elating.
16
Alison Sinclair
I'm doing okay for now.
140
Alison Sinclair
0
5
