Seasonal Celebration

That's what they called the concert. They didn't want to say Christmas I guess. Anyway Janice and I went there last night and met up with a friend of mine from Trinidad, Anna.
At night Westcott looks sublime!

Well the whole concert was enjoyable but I want to break it down. They started with How Shall I Fitly Meet Thee. The singers were on stage and in the aisles, but the best part of this performace was the trumpets.
The Women's Glee Club and the Madrigal Singers stuff was a little bit slow and kinda boring so I'll skip that, but then they had some kids perform and that was really adorable!

There were 65 kids (I counted), and out of that only 6 boys, so they had those boys interspersed across the stage. The cute part was that a lot of the kids were wearing Mary Janes or Oxfords...you know, their CHOIR SHOES! :)

The songs like O Come Emmanuel, Do You Hear What I Hear, and Carol of the Bells, reminded me of choir in high school when we had to practice for the Christmas shows and concerts at Trinity Church downtown. I even remembered all the mezzo soprano parts that I had to do.

There were a couple of African songs like Betelehemu and Natufurai which sounded very American. I just remember the Tallahassee Boys choir singing that stuff, and nothing else I have heard can really compare to the energy, passion, and accents that the boys had.

The Jazz Vocal Ensemble didn't really sound like Jazz at all! It was kind of strange to hear them. They were entertaining though because they danced and moved around etc.

The Collegians sang Run To The Manger, and they had an interesting sound...like across between chain gang workers and a barbershop quartet, so I really liked that performance. They also did a number called Hush! My dear, lie still and slumber. That was really interesting because they had a Counter Tenor (who sounded very much like a woman). Check them out. The guitar was excellent. He just picked at the strings the whole time. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4-5-6., in that tempo! I loved that.

This director is really great. His name is Andre Thomas and he is actually one of the best music directors in the United States. He was really gracious on stage.

The audience sang two songs. Angels We Have Heard On High and Deck The Halls. That was a lot of fun to do. There was someone on stage directing us with the tempo and encouraging harmony. You really felt like your music teacher was up there telling you what to do...but in this case a much nicer, kinder, non- yelling, non-screaming, non- telling you that you are a failure because you don't breathe from your diaphragm, music teacher! (LOL).

And last but certainly not least. The gospel choir. Oh My! These were the best performaces of the night. The audience screamed and gave standing ovations to them (this only happened with them). They sang Joyful Joyful (remember they sang this in Sister Act 2 led by Lauryn Hill), and Now Behold the Lamb (I think I heard this on Diary Of a Mad Black woman but the Tally Boys Choir has done it many times).
They had the best singers. The lead for Joyful Joyful sounded like an Angel. It was haunting... You can see her there singing and the two guys to her left of the picture did a Gospel rap!

Well we had a very good time. If you look in the background you can see the fountain at Wescott. I really like how it looks at night. Sometimes it is lit up and looks amazing. We saw this guy playing the harmonica outside and I thought it was cool.
The town Christmas Lights thing is coming soon and Choir of the Bells so I may go see that as well.
Hugs M