Blog Post 4

The cast of the Hardin Baptist Church Christmas musical, "Fear Not Factor", did not meet last week, so I will talk about rehearsal on the 16th of October.
This week I led the rehearsal of the older students (1st-5th grade) along with another director. The students are participating more and more with each rehearsal, and they are starting to get really excited about the show. Some students have started asking questions about their costumes and whether or not they will get to sing a solo. I am very pleased to see how well these students are progressing.
However, for this blog I will primarily discuss Student A, as she has the role of Mary and I gave her a private lesson during the last rehearsal.
At first, Student A was slightly timid and I could barely hear what she was singing. However, she sang confidently along with the CD, and I knew immediately that it was not an issue of knowing the song, but an issue of projecting with confidence. I told her to make her best siren noise and to stand up straight and tall like she was royalty. She immediately fixed her posture and immitated my model of a siren noise, albeit after some coaxing on my part. I asked her to sing part of the song again, and I was so proud of the improvement she made in such a short time. She was so much more confident, and I could hear and understand every word she was singing. It made me think back to my first voice lesson and how reluctant I was at first to make all of those silly sounds, but it also made me think of how happy I was with myself once I realized I was improving. The smile on Student A's face showed that she was feeling exactly how I felt after a good lesson. I cannot wait to see how much farther she can go!
Below I have posted a clip of songs from the "Fear Not Factor" musical.