Metro Mix Chorus heads to international competition with new theme
We are ready!
“Our next contestant is from the state of Iowa, in Region 5: Metro Mix Chorus!”
That introduction is what we are excited to hear next week. We are ready to attend and perform at the Sweet Adeline International Competition on Sept. 13-17
The excitement is building as we have our last rehearsal and a “Friends and Family” performance this week. We are busy packing and a bit nervous of course, but confident that we are ready.
Our a capella performance will include an uptune, “Those Eyes,” and a ballad, “Foolish Heart.”
When we are performing in Phoenix for thousands of our fellow Sweet Adelines, we will not be individual singers, but a tightly woven chorus of practiced performers who have worked hard to sing well individually and blend with each other.
Quartets and choruses from many states and countries will perform in 4-part harmony, barbershop style: tenor, lead, baritone and bass, and are judged according to four categories: Sound, Music, Expression and Visual Communication. For quite awhile we knew what we needed to do and worked hard.
However, along the way we had a realization that we could be chosen for the top 10, and if we are, we need a package of a few more songs with a theme and a bit of dialogue to share in the finals.
Yikes! How do we do this with so many new members? That could have been a breakdown moment, but instead it became the premise of a chorus “Under Construction” after the effects of our COVID-19 recess. That has become the theme of our finals performance.
It will be a fun expression of what it symbolically looks like to reconstruct a chorus after a disaster, such as COVID, with singers who don’t know each other, music they don’t all know, and costumes that many don’t have. Our creative team came up with the setup, including hard hats, a hodgepodge of costumes, construction signage and a dialogue about the unusual year we have had.
So, “Here and Now” we are proud and anxious for all to “Fly with Me” next week to Phoenix for the activities, events and the contest of the Sweet Adeline International Competition of 2022. It all will come together “At Last.”
If this sounds exciting and you would like to see what we have cooked up for our performance, there is an opportunity this week to visit our last rehearsal.
Join us for a free Friends and Family performance Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Shueyville Methodist Church, (one mile east from Exit 10 on I-380 north of Coralville).
Our International performance is Thursday, Sept. 15, sometime between 4:30 and 5 p.m. So, on that day, if your ears begin to ring, it just might be Metro Mix Chorus ringing our barbershop chords for the world to hear.
It will be live-streamed through Sweet Adeline's International, but I’m sure we will have recordings to watch when we get home.
Thank you for your support. Harmonize the world!
Lynda Black-Smith is a retired art teacher and artist who loves singing lead with Metro Mix. She can be reached at: lyndablacksmith@gmail.com or find Metro Mix Chorus on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Metro Mix Chorus heads to international competition with new theme
