Show Choir
What is show choir? Show Choir is a group of people who combine choral singing with dance, sometimes within the context of a specific idea or story.
Somerset Berkley Regional High School has two show choir groups: "Electrify" and "Amplified"
Electrify is the mixed group, or a group consisting of both boys and girls. This group has rehearsal every Tuesday and Thursday after school until 5:30. Our "theme", or story that we base our show off of is "First Love." Our show goes through a series of songs and dances that tells the story of the start of a relationship. Our show involves songs by Beyonce, Blink 182, and more.
Amplified is the unified group, or a group consisting of only girls. This group has rehearsal every Monday until 5:30. Our "theme" for this show is based on the movie "Mean Girls." Our show involves songs by Taylor Swift, songs from the famous musical "Heathers", and more.
I have been a part of show choir since freshman year. I am currently the president of the show choir :) The show choir goes to many competitions. During competition days, every member arrives at the school between 5am and 6am. We all take two buses to the school where the competition is held and we are assigned two class rooms where we get ready to compete. Getting ready involves specific make-up, specific hair, and our costume. We then head to the warm-up room and prepare ourselves for our show. After our thirty minutes in the warm-up room are done, we all get to the stage and set up on our risers to start our show. The curtain opens and we perform our show for the judges and the audience. After we perform, we go to the judges room where we work with one of the judges to talk about scoring. After we perform, we watch other the shows of other schools until awards. When it is time for awards, every member from every show choir goes into the auditorium and awards are handed out.
Orchestra
What is Orchestra? Orchestra is a group of instrumentalists that performs music.
Somerset Berkley Regional High School provides two orchestra groups in their curriculum that count as an academic class: "Orchestra" and "String Ensemble." Our groups include the instruments of the violin, viola, cello, and bass. This class is taught by Ms.Arruda. Both groups participate in after school concerts that are held at the school.
Orchestra is the group that accepts all instrumentalists that desire to play. This group meets every s block on C day, D day, G day, and H day. Each day we come into class and unpack and prepare our instruments. We set up the stage, separating each instrument into sections, and sit in our assigned seating. After all students are seated, we tune our instruments and warm-up with a two-octave scale. Then the music is passed out by the section leaders and we practice the pieces for the rest of the class.
String Ensemble is the select group that only accept instrumentalists by auditions. Thus group meets every s block on B day and F day. Each day we come into class and unpack and prepare our instruments. We set up the stage, separating each instrument into sections, and sit in our assigned seating. After all students are seated, we tune our instruments and warm-up with a three-octave scale. Then the music is passed out by the section leaders and we practice the pieces for the rest of the class. This music has a higher difficulty level than the orchestra. Each group requires practice, dedication, and commitment.
Both classes are graded on participation, attendance of the concerts, concert reflections, and "snake pit testing." Each student is expected to participate, bring in their instrument, and play the pieces that are assigned. Each student is expected to attend every concert and wear the correct concert uniform.