Concert Wrap-Up
Well, the WCCC had their final show of the season last Saturday at UUCW. It was "It's A Small World: The Music of Fred Small." This was one of our cabaret-style performances, with a couple full-chorus numbers and a lot of duets and ensembles of different sizes. Lots of good music. A couple of us are familiar with his music, but most hadn't heard it before. There were some stunning performances, and a couple that didn't go as well as we'd hoped.
I was in several songs (and I'm not counting the clapping for part of "Peace Is" that was the opening number with all the women). In the first act, I was in "Cranes Over Hiroshima". Sharon and Lindsey did the singing 95% of the singing, and I did ASL for the song. Since I don't know the language yet, I got most of my assistance from our ASL Coordinator, Lynn, with a little extra guidance from judifilksign . Lynn was pleased with my work, and the audience seemed to like it as well. Filkers will probably see me do it on occasion now that I know it.
We ended the first half with "Not in our Town", featuring Chuck, with myself as part of the backup quartet, and wrapping up the song with the full chorus. It's a great song, and I'm thinking of adding it to my filk repertoire.
In the second act, I was part of every song but one. The three guys plus one woman did "Warlords" which was an interesting song and had some great harmonies, but was arranged to be a bit jarring, like the subject matter. For "Dig A Hole," I didn't sing, but was in charge of the visual component, which consisted of turning through cartoon art representing the song during the verses, and acting out the chorus.
At this point, I got to leave the stage while Lindsey did an amazing job with "Hills of Ayalon", and then I was back on stage singing "Big Italian Rose" as a duet with Shirl. I thought it went well. Shirl and I were both very comfortable with the song, and I think it came across in the performance. We wrapped up the concert with "Everything Possible," sung by the full chorus spread around the room. Harmonies filled the space, and it was a very nifty effect.
There are some other Fred Small songs that I absolutely love, but they didn't make it into this concert. Maybe next time?
Interestingly, Fred Small is now a UU minister, and one of our attendees was heading out to a national UU convention this week, and was expecting to see Fred Small there. I wonder if the subject of our concert ever came up?
(In case you're wondering, years ago when Fred Small was here in Milwaukee, performing at the Audabon Center, I asked him, and he signed a piece of paper that gave the WCCC rights to arrange and perform any of his songs. It was very kind of him, and it's one of the reasons we decided to do a concert featuring entirely his music.)
I was in several songs (and I'm not counting the clapping for part of "Peace Is" that was the opening number with all the women). In the first act, I was in "Cranes Over Hiroshima". Sharon and Lindsey did the singing 95% of the singing, and I did ASL for the song. Since I don't know the language yet, I got most of my assistance from our ASL Coordinator, Lynn, with a little extra guidance from judifilksign . Lynn was pleased with my work, and the audience seemed to like it as well. Filkers will probably see me do it on occasion now that I know it.
We ended the first half with "Not in our Town", featuring Chuck, with myself as part of the backup quartet, and wrapping up the song with the full chorus. It's a great song, and I'm thinking of adding it to my filk repertoire.
In the second act, I was part of every song but one. The three guys plus one woman did "Warlords" which was an interesting song and had some great harmonies, but was arranged to be a bit jarring, like the subject matter. For "Dig A Hole," I didn't sing, but was in charge of the visual component, which consisted of turning through cartoon art representing the song during the verses, and acting out the chorus.
At this point, I got to leave the stage while Lindsey did an amazing job with "Hills of Ayalon", and then I was back on stage singing "Big Italian Rose" as a duet with Shirl. I thought it went well. Shirl and I were both very comfortable with the song, and I think it came across in the performance. We wrapped up the concert with "Everything Possible," sung by the full chorus spread around the room. Harmonies filled the space, and it was a very nifty effect.
There are some other Fred Small songs that I absolutely love, but they didn't make it into this concert. Maybe next time?
Interestingly, Fred Small is now a UU minister, and one of our attendees was heading out to a national UU convention this week, and was expecting to see Fred Small there. I wonder if the subject of our concert ever came up?
(In case you're wondering, years ago when Fred Small was here in Milwaukee, performing at the Audabon Center, I asked him, and he signed a piece of paper that gave the WCCC rights to arrange and perform any of his songs. It was very kind of him, and it's one of the reasons we decided to do a concert featuring entirely his music.)