Music is important

So I'm sitting at home, feeling exhausted, cause it's been a long week. And it's only Wednesday. Anyway, last night we had our premiere concert for show choir and jazz choir, and it was awesome. Four groups performed: our jazz choir, freshman show choir, prep show choir, and varsity show choir. I sang in the jazz choir and prep show choir, and then played in the combo for the varsity show choir. It was a lot of fun and all the groups did really well. Based on that performance, I can tell that it's going to be a winning season (again). It makes me very thankful to go to a school that puts so much time and effort into their show choir program. :)

That being said: what about funding for the arts? I realize that show choir isn't cheap; you have to pay for costumes, props, songs, competition fees, food, buses, and the list goes on. It amazes me how much our show choirs spend each year on their shows...and what it amounts to in the long run. It certainly allows us to be top notch, one of the best in the country. It allows us to travel to Nashville for Show Choir Nationals, and it allows us to wear fresh, new costumes each year. It makes me wonder about schools that don't spend that kind of money on their show choir. I'm not trying to brag about my school, certainly we aren't rich, but I wonder if other schools fund-raise as much as we do. I'm telling you, there's really nothing more annoying than having to carry around a box of chocolates every day, when you only sell one every so often because so many show choir kids are selling chocolate at the same time. I'd much rather have my parents just do the work for me, but they never want to either. That being said, fundraising is a pain in the you-know-what...but what if you absolutely HAVE to fund-raise to gain enough money to do show choir? It's crazy when you think about how much chocolate you'd actually have to sell in order to pay for a show choir show.

Anyway, now I'm rambling on about selling chocolate. But yeah, funding for the arts. It should definitely be supported by tax payers and schools shouldn't be cutting their art and music programs. It's unfair when people argue that the arts are a waste of time and money, because that's not true. The arts provide students with an education that not everyone has the talent to earn, and they allow students to be creative and express themselves. Music has shaped my life and made me into the person I am today, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I know my school wouldn't cut it's music programs because they are so successful, but I realize that not every school is that fortunate. For some students, it's an actual reality. The funding for their art and music programs is being cut day after day. It's unfair--who says that football or baseball or soccer is more important than music? Each and every student has a different way of expressing themselves. Personally, music is the way to go.

So, government and schools, please stop cutting funding for art programs. It makes sense to have them because they are activities that allow students to express themselves. It's what allows us to be who we are and to be great.

Marching Band...in November?

So yesterday I attended the Iowa vs. Michigan game at Kinnick. I must say, though Michigan lost, it was still a good game. They should have won though. The touchdown at the end was definitely good, and it shouldn't have been overturned. The referees favored Iowa and it definitely showed--how unfair. But anyway, enough about the game, let's turn to the band.

It was the first time I had ever seen the Iowa Marching Band, and I had high expectations. I've seen Michigan's band, UNI's band, and Iowa State's band and they were all fantastic (Michigan's was the best, though.) When Iowa's marching band came out on the field though, I noticed a few things that shocked me. Their lines weren't straight. That's a problem that even my high school band is able to fix, so why were their lines curved in NOVEMBER of all times? Another thing I noticed was how small their band is. Compared to ISU and Michigan, their band is TINY! They only took up about half the field in regular spacing. As they performed, I kept thinking to myself, "How is this a college band?!". It was pretty disappointing.

I understand that it was freezing yesterday, so it probably wasn't their best performance, but I truly expected a lot more from the Iowa band. As for the game, I thought Michigan was at a strong disadvantage because of the referees that favored Iowa. I kept my head in the game, well, the fraction of it that wasn't completely frozen, and I stayed focused on it until the last second. But I was disappointed, not in my team, but in the ultimate outcome of it. Michigan still has a better record than Iowa, at least overall, and a chance at the Rose Bowl. We're still ranked higher than Iowa and have the largest number of wins in history and we're still awesome, but man, I thought this would be an easy win. I guess everyone has their bad days...and referees favor the lesser team. 

Adele, nearly a legend

Love her or hate her, it's impossible not to respect her. She's gorgeous, talented, and sassy. That's right folks, Adele knows what she's doing. She's topped music charts all over the world, in places like Britain, Australia, and the United States. She's very successful, and a lot of it is because she's so different from a lot of the other modern pop stars like Lady Gaga and Ke$ha. That's right, Adele has class.

Her first hit song, "Rolling in the Deep", shows off her raspy voice with a little bit of blues touch. Adele is able to sing really high notes while still having a little chest voice in them, which I admire her for. As for the lyrics, she's basically saying "You played me, so bye, I don't need you", which is the attitude all women should have toward guys that are jerks. Adele shows her bitterness toward her ex-boyfriend in this song, which she also shows in her song "Rumour Has it".

Rolling in the Deep by Adele



In deep contrast to "Rolling in the Deep", Adele also sings the song "Someone Like You", which was inspired by a broken relationship. It's a sad song that is also about a break-up but has a much different mood from "Rolling in the Deep". The song features her beautiful voice and the video is simply her walking through the street.

Someone Like You by Adele



So basically, Adele is gorgeous and she has a beautiful voice. She is someone who people should look up to, unlike girls like Brittany Spears and Lady Gaga.

Is there such thing as too much show choir?

This past week has been the busiest week ever. I had 21 hours of show choir total, in preparation for our show choir premiere concert on Tuesday. We worked a lot on choreography this week, as well as costumes. It felt like our show really came together, at least enough for our first concert. We also brought in our combo for the first time this week, which was pretty exciting. It's funny how you can tell from just one week of practice that it's going to be a great year.

Our choreographer came into town on Monday and worked with us for six hours total, in which we became waaay better at our dancing. I mean waaay better. Personally, I improved so much. I'm not the best dancer, either. He worked a lot on making us all look like one, and making the dance moves personal. He also made our show much more masculine, meaning that the girls have to dance strongly, instead of femininely.  Yup, we're masculine women.

Not only did working hard for long hours make us a better show choir, but it brought us together. I actually feel like we're all a team now, instead of fifty people dancing and singing. We did a lot of bonding activities that helped us get to know each other, and it's interesting what you find out about people. It also teaches you to not judge people before you know them, because really, you don't know their life.

So basically, this week was full of show choir. Which then meant I had no time to do homework, so that's what I'm stuck doing this weekend. But it's all good, cause show choir is worth it. :)