Sunday, December 4, 2011

Post-Concert Wrap-up

Syncopasian's Fall 2011 Concert was yesterday.  All the SyncoLadies featuring the Menz.

Let's just say that it was an experience.

I'm going to start off by saying that we had a very ambitious set list, with 9 songs, 6 of them being new songs, on top of our 3 mini group songs, 2 of which were new.  So I would like to say good job to the whole group for being absolutely amazing.  As a whole, I found the concert to be particularly stressful this year, taking a lot of energy from sopranos.  I think this is the first time I was so exhausted after a concert, I didn't feel up to helping clean up.  Luckily, they didn't need my help.  Now to break down the concert.

  1. Allegro Cantabile soloist: Max Wu; perc: Lindsey Shi, Minshu Zhan; arr.: Lindsey Shi
    This was probably the song that the most people in the group were excited about.  It's a fun song, fast paced, and there's a perc-off in the middle of it.  What isn't there to love?  Well, let's just say that we probably started learning this song a little too late.  There was a bit of a collective brain fart in the middle of the song.  Also, the song sped up a bit, and I ran out of air by the end of the song, which made the end a little less than stellar.  However, I would like to give major props to Max for getting it together and sticking it out with the rest of the group messing up.  He was great, and deserved that solo.
  2. Rocketeer soloists: Minshu Zhan, Ami Suzuki, Eric Lau; perc: Max Wu; arr.: Jessie Wang, Ben Chang
    So... I was really excited for this song before we started singing it, since it's a great arrangement of the song and a different arrangement of the song, but then I slowly became ambivalent towards it.  Not sure what else I can say about it.
  3. Gee soloists: Ami Suzuki, Jeannie Yu; perc: Danny Chiao; arr.: Kyumin Lee
    This song was definitely the feel-good-popular song of this semester.  It's one that everyone knows, and is, honestly, a little more silly than artistic when we do it.  I only wish that some people were more enthusiastic about the choreography, since that was the biggest selling point for this song.  When a video is posted, just watch Max.  He is an adorable dancer. 
  4. Silent Night small group: Ami Suzuki, Pudjeeb Buddhari, Eric Lau, Jimmy Liu, Danny Chiao; arr.: Ami Suzuki
    I'll be completely honest.  I didn't like this that much.  Some of the chords were simply weird, and I thought, the first time I heard it, that they were out of tune.  But in reality, that was just what the notes were.  Interesting.
  5. Fau Kwaa soloist: Eric Lau; perc: Minshu Zhan; arr.: Lindsey Shi
    Love this song.  Not going to lie.  This is probably my favorite song (other than Hui Jia) this entire semester.  Of course, sopranos also have a be as loud as you want moment.  Oh wait, that moment is basically the ENTIRE SONG.  And we're singing high notes.  It's just fun to diva out sometimes. 
  6. One soloists: Kyumin Lee, George Cheng; perc: Max Wu; arr.: Jessie Wang
    This was a fun song.  I think the only real problem was that we rushed.  Oh, and we went sharp.  I'm just going to talk a little about our soloists.  They are both great rappers (in my not so informed opinion), but I think Kyumin could do with a better... rapper's presence?  Like, George is being all cool, and then there's Kyumin.  Minor detail, really.
  7. Hui Jia soloist: me (Tiffany Lin); perc: Jenny Wu; arr.: Jessie Wang
    We went sharp.  I'm so glad I have an upper range buffer.  Also, I'm pretty sure that my voice was either really shaky or not quite audible for my first few notes.  I know I over enunciated some words, because I was absolutely terrified up there.  Solos always mess with my mind.  However, I think I sounded good.  Personal bias. =P
  8. Nyan Cat small group: Minshu Zhan, Jeannie Yu, Jenny Wu, Kyumin Lee, Ami Suzuki; arr.: Kyumin Lee
    This was probably... the hit of the show.  I know some people were like eh when they started singing, but then everyone got into it, and were having a good time.  Probably not the most polished song out there, but it was fun.  Also, it was our encore song.  :D
  9. Xiao Qing Ge soloist: Minshu Zhan; perc: Lindsey Shi; arr.: Jessie Wang
    This is one of my favorite songs.  It sounded good (despite going sharp), and I just wish we could do this song sitting down.  Like, it's such a sit down on a lawn and sing type of song, so relaxed and pretty. 
  10. Tik Tok/Heartbeat small group: Lindsey Shi (perc), George Cheng, Jane Wang, Pudjeeb Buddhari, Danny Chiao, Jimmy Liu; arr.: Ben Chang
    This is probably my favorite small group -piece-, although it wasn't my favorite small group performance.  There were some who didn't know the words, or didn't know how to fake not knowing the words.  Every once in a while, George would go quiet, and Jimmy's looking at his cheat sheet cards.  The bigger problem, though, was that Jane decided to tell AV (the Crossproducts) that she needed to be louder because the song wasn't really in her range.  You know what?  That's a lie.  She ended up being way too loud. 
  11. Yesterday Once More soloist: Jeannie Yu, Lindsey Shi, Pudjeeb Buddhari; perc: Max Wu; arr.: Kyumin Lee
    Not the most difficult arrangement from Kyumin.  This song sounded nice too, and instead of going flat, like we usually do, we went sharp.  There were a few intonation issues in the middle, but I think those were easily fixed.   No other comment on this song.  It's a good song, solid arrangement, solid singing (I think).
  12. Konna Ni Chikaku De soloist: Jane Wang; perc: Minshu Zhan; arr.: Kyumin Lee
    I like this song.  I like the new choreo, and I think it's just pretty fun to sing.  I think the most important thing to talk about is the comparison between Jane and the old soloist, Adrianna.  Adrianna and Jane both have this overdramatic (to me) feel to this song.  They're also both classically trained, which means that their sound is often similar.  However, my main beef with the way Jane presents this song is that her words always sound very choppy.  I'm not sure if that's just the way she speaks, or if she simply takes breaths at the wrong places.  With Japanese, there really are right and wrong places to breath.  Adrianna didn't have this problem.  Then again, Adrianna had pretty fantastic lung capacity.
Well, that's all for now!