The highly anticipated student-directed performance, S!NG, was this Friday and Saturday, and the vocal directors worked hard behind the scenes to perfect their shows. Seniors Lucas Ayala and Cailin Bell from the Semore team and juniors Christine Kim and Olivia Reid from the Freshior team shared their experiences of being vocal directors.
Second year S!NG director, Lucas has had a mostly positive experience. “Even though it can be stressful, it’s rewarding to see your work pay off and watch your peers grow,” he said. He has worked well with his co-director Cailin for two years, and the two have developed a close bond. “We make a great team because we can bounce ideas off of each other,” he commented.
The process of choosing songs and bringing the shows to life is very time consuming. Every year in June, the theme is announced to both teams. From then on, both teams work up to the performance dates.
Christine explained her initial struggle as director. “We didn’t know how to set deadlines for ourselves… It was a little hard to find a balance between being their director and being their friend. I’m always wondering if they like me, and if I’m making S!NG fun for them. S!NG is a competition, but it’s also about the memories you make,” she said.
Her co-director Olivia also faced setbacks. “Early on, I had this expectation in my mind of how things should have gone, and it was a little bit discouraging when reality didn’t measure up to what I had pictured. But now that we’re in the home stretch, I am so excited,” she said.
“Before the script was even written, I created a document of different emotions and situations, and we all filled in songs we felt fit into each category,” Olivia said. “My philosophy was just to pick songs that felt right musically, not necessarily lyrically. Once the script was finished it was simply the task of being very purposeful in choosing what song fit where.”
Directors also have to work with their singers to critique the harmonies, the enunciation of words, the emotions shown on stage, and the choreography to the songs. “The most difficult task was probably organizing [the song] Vogue because we had to practice doing choreography while singing loudly,” Lucas explained.
Through working on S!NG together, the members have developed a friendship and a community. Christine said, “I really do love all of my singers. [They’ve] stuck with us through these crazy rehearsals and extended practices. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, and it doesn’t matter to me if we win or lose [but to] have fun on stage.”
“S!NG is always different: new show, new faces, new experiences, but one thing that stays constant is that S!NG is a family. We’re all united to put on one show, [and] that’s so powerful,” Olivia said.
Lucas added, “S!NG has allowed me to meet tons of talented people, practice my leadership, and learn more about working on a team. I hope that everyone in the audience has an amazing time watching both teams’ shows.”
Photos by Jason Bacalla and Sharon Li.
