As much as we love to sing and perform, stage fright and nervousness has been a challenge for each of us to varying degrees over the years. As part of a strategy to combat the nerves, we have created a tradition of performing our contest material in front of live audiences as many times as possible in the weeks prior to the contest date. We create our own “tour”, calling up local SAI and BHS choruses and asking permission to drop by and sing for them during their rehearsal nights. The first year, we even created our own tour t-shirts advertising the dates and locations of that year’s “Knock Out the Nerves” tour.
This strategy has served us well. Prior to this year’s regional contest in April, we sang in front of audiences no fewer than eight times in the three weeks prior to the contest. Six of those times we had the opportunity to wear our contest costumes for the performance. This was fantastic rehearsal, because we became accustomed to wearing the dresses and being comfortable in them, and then on the day of the contest itself, the feeling was less nerve-wracking and much more “Oh, ok, we’re going to sing again.” The comfort and familiarity of the contest costume was a big factor in feeling confident on stage, and contributed to our winning performance, we’re sure.
So for our debut performance at the international contest in Houston, we are falling back on the strategy that has worked for us before. We will be visiting some local SAI and BHS choruses in the next two weeks to sing during their rehearsals. We won’t be able to visit as many as we’d like due to constraints on scheduling, but we are grateful for the welcoming response we’ve gotten from those that we’ve contacted.
We’re looking forward to seeing our friends in the following local choruses. If you are in the area and can join us on any of these events, we’d love to see you!
Fall 2011 Tour Dates:
Monday Oct 3: Upper Chesapeake Chorus Friends and Family Send-off to Houston
Tuesday Oct 2: Dundalk Chorus of the Chesapeake (BHS) rehearsal night
Tuesday Oct 2: Capital Accord Chorus rehearsal night
Wednesday Oct 3: Harbor City Music Company Show Chorus Friends and Family Send-off to Houston
Monday Oct 10: Pride of Baltimore Chorus rehearsal night