I am supposed to write a paper for choir, thats actually due tomorrow and I've been working so much I haven't had time to work on it... I'm having problems figuring out how to write it, so I'm going to write it in my diary as though it is a real diary entry, and then move on from there. :)

It's tough to sum up the past year of choir. Theres so many thoughts and ideas to shift through to find acceptable ones to put on a paper to hand in that properly shows what I think. But I will do my best...

This past year has certainly been an interesting one, and I must say has been the best year of choir I have had since starting at OHS. I truly felt that trying my hardest in choir was actually getting me somewhere this year, and that someone actually took notice. Because of this, it made me participate in the music department much more than I have in past years. This year, I participated in the musical (not that I haven't tried out before, but this being the first year I have actually made it), music listening contest, did 2 solos, one for orchestra and one for choir, and I plan on doing all that again next year.

I believe that this year took everyone by suprise with the new director. We had been so used to not being challenged with the music and not being pushed to do our absolute best. And thats not the way it should have been. We should've been working our hardest already. I hope that the hard work that we have put in this year will continue to grow, and that we will have amazing ensembles next year, because I know that we can reach that excellence. It's just a matter of people doing just what is required, or going beyond that and achieving more.

There were some negatives this year, although the amount of positives outweigh them. The negatives, though, are not neccesarily anything that could be fixed by the director. It requires work of the people within the choir. I believe that we could've sounded much, much better at our concerts had some of the chatter between pieces been cut. We would've been able to work on more things. Also, the amount of effort put forth, as said before. One thing that could be fixed by the director is the amount of attention paid to each section during a piece. As an alto, I felt that my section was a bit ignored when there parts that were troubling us. If only we had more time to work on the pieces, right!? Possibly a solution to that would be to ask each section if they are comfortable with a certain area or piece before moving onto the next piece of music.

In closing, I would just like to repeat that this year has by far been that best year in choir I have had. I have taken many things out of it, and I plan on using them in the future when I go on to college to follow my dream of being a high school choir teacher. I still have plenty to learn, but this is putting me in the right direction.