For members of RBHS choir, it was a night to remember.
They held a Madrigal Extravaganza Concert on Wednesday, Dec. 9, marking one of the last choir concerts scheduled for the semester. Men’s and Women’s Choruses both performed in the show.
Sophomore Anna Inslee, who participated in the concert, believes everyone performed to the best of their abilities and was proud of not only her individual performance, but the choir’s as a whole.
“I thought the concert went pretty well,” Inslee said. “I actually did facials and didn’t mess up a lot, so I was pretty happy with my performance.”
The theme of the concert was that of a madrigal, a choir-based song which was commonly recited in the Renaissance era. The choir chose Renaissance as a theme for the concert to reflect and learn about the era in a convenient fashion.
Along with the vocal arts presented during the concert, dances from the Renaissance were also performed. This included a brief maypole dance, which is a folk dance in which students performed around a tall wooden pole referred to as a “maypole”.
“My favorite part was when I was dancing the maypole,” senior Amber Klasmeier said. “I really enjoyed the fact that we got to learn dances that were danced back in that time.”
While choir students spent several weeks preparing for the concert, Klasmeier still believes there is room for improvement.
“I do believe that [choir] as a whole can get stronger,” Klasmeier said. “Over the past years that I have been at Rock Bridge, I have seen amazing talents. Most of the time, we don’t start out that great as a whole group, but when we put our minds to it, we can sound amazing.”
Despite the minor shortcomings members of the choir saw within themselves, their performance was well-received by the audience. After the conclusion of the concert, a standing ovation followed from those watching. In Inslee’s eyes, the choir team put on a proficient performance and the team can get even better through dedicated practice.
“I think everyone did great,” Inslee said. “There were a few soloists in men’s choir that all did fantastic. Of course, we all made a few mistakes, but overall I think it was very well done. The best way for us to improve is to apply everything [director Mike] Pierson talks about and actually keep practicing it like he asks us to. We always try to do that, but in order to get even better we all just need to apply everything he asks us to do.”