Day 4: Square-dancin' & singin' & so much fun!

We started today with an early 7am wake up call, and another delicious complimentary breakfast downstairs in the lobby. Before the morning festival rehearsal, CC had a quick rehearsal with Mr. Brown running through parts of Tyger, Tyger and It Don’t Mean a Thing in preparation for tonight’s performance. At the end of the short rehearsal, the choir sang happy birthday to Mr. Brown before moving to the morning’s massed rehearsal with all the choirs. Audrey and Lisa were selected to be in the soloists group for Mountain Lullaby, and Alexis lost a tooth during rehearsal!

We all sat down together for lunch at Outback Steak House across from the hotel, to the singer’s delight — burgers, chicken sandwiches, and fries, complete with a short serenade to thank the wonderful waitstaff for feeding our group of 36 on such short notice.

After eating, we had a choir camp style ‘rest period’ in the hotel so singers could catch some extra shut-eye before tonight’s activity. Now extra well-rested, we had our second massed rehearsal, which started off with some fun warmups — ask your singer about the choir version of the alphabet song! They worked on Lovely Day, Mountain Lullaby, Country Roads, & Shady Grove; gearing up for their big performance tomorrow.

After an early dinner at the hotel, the singers eagerly went to their rooms to change into their performance uniforms for this evening’s concert. There were nerves and excitement in equal measure. We had a short meditation circle in the lobby to calm down and center ourselves before getting to work on some last minute run throughs, and then it was time to perform!

Check out the link below for the performance videos - singers stunned with Modal Etudes and Moon Book, and delighted the audience with the energetic Tyger, Tyger and It Don’t Mean a Thing!

Our evening was filled with square-dancing fun, complete with bandanas and straw cowboy hats. The live band kept the beat, and two callers taught us the steps and kept us moving and meeting new friends to “do-si-do” and “swing around.” Zuri made a few new friends to promenade with, and all our singers joined in the fun, at least until they got too tired to keep going. They even treated us to some warm brownies for dessert, which Roya and Molly proclaimed were super yummy.

After so much activity, you’d think they would be ready for bed, but no! We got a game of “pony game” going which quickly dissolved into cartwheels and giggles. The chaperones were so happy to see the kids making new friends and connections tonight. We are just now getting the singers back to their rooms to get ready for bed, and cant wait for the final day of the festival tomorrow.

P.S. Camp Directors Will and Tate picked up a new favorite saying from our host conductor: “It takes zero vocal energy to do this [silent activity]”