First Rehearsal

The first rehearsal was tonight. 26 of the 31 girls were present. 

We sang. The tone was clean, blended, and warm. My biggest worry all summer was the tone - the girls that were selected for this group - would it all fit together. There are tonal space issues to practice. Breathing will be our biggest hurdle. They know HOW to breathe. They don't trust the air to sustain the sound they produce, so they take too many breaths. Common mistakes to correct.

We sightread. Smart girls. They know rhythms & pitches. Now - how to make it fit together in sound and idea.

We played. The Name Game - that was a lot for 26 names! Maybe I should have had smaller groups?!?! Maybe, but they know each other's name now. Rock Opera Disco - kind of like Rock Paper Scissors - with partners. An 8th grader won. Human Slipknot - 27 people (includes me) stand in a line. The person in front puts their right hand through their legs and takes the left hand of the person behind them. The last person  (that would be me) in that long line of connected hands lays down and the entire line walks backwards over the person behind them and lays down. Obviously, you have to have a LONG space to do this activity - school hallways work great! Lots of laughter. My favorite part asked by 5 students - "Why did we do this?" Answer: Team building, getting to know each other, laughter, something fun, no reason whatsoever.

We began to find a theme for the year that will bind us together. It's on this wall somewhere.