Brooke Michael

5/24/17

Period 2

On May 6th, 2017 I went to the High School All- State Choral Festival at the Duke

Energy center for Performing Arts. The performance started at 2:00 and ended around

2:30. The group that I saw perform was the 9-10 mixed choir, who were conducted by Dr.

James Franklin. There were approximately 90 to 100 people in the choir. I was amazed at

how advanced the choir seemed, and I enjoyed watching them perform.

Appearance wise no one stood out to me. It looked like everyone had good

posture and I didnt see anyone moving while they were singing. Of course it would be

hard to tell because there were so many people in the choir. Having so many people could

have been a disadvantage or an advantage. In this case it put them at an advantage. Their

harmony was amazing, and they were able to be louder than smaller choirs. Their diction

was good too, although in the third song, Break of Day they could of improved their

pronunciation with certain phrases.

The performers seemed very confident in what they were singing which made it

more enjoyable for the audience. The message in each song was clearly displayed. I could

understand the meaning of the second song, O Saluatris Hostia very easily. The song is

about how our Lord grants us eternal life. It is basically a song praising God. The first

two songs were religious songs. They were both very pretty but not my favorite song.

My favorite song they sung was the last one, Go Down Moses. This song was

sung by slaves as a way of telling other slaves they should escape and go to the
underground railroad that night. Since they couldnt just tell each other they had to use

songs to communicate. This goes to show how important music had been throughout

history. Before they started singing the choir made rain and thunder sounds by snapping

their hands and stomping their feet. They were all in sync so it actually sounded like a

real storm. The performers all wore smiles and really got into what they were singing.

Their pitch was beautiful throughout the whole song.

I would definitely recommend this performance to people because I know they

would enjoy hearing such beautiful singing. The performers did a great job of making

their audience comfortable and relaxed. They created a great atmosphere. I know that it is

not easy to do what this choir did, but the way it was displayed in this performance shows

that the singers have been working very hard to do what is obvious that they love to do.