No, it's not the number of groups that i was referring to. I feel that a lot of the midwest/southern/eastern groups have very similar formulas to their shows and a lot of it seems the same to me. I realized that there's a handful of awesome choreographers that do a lot of different groups, so their individual styles are very prominent out there. It's hard to watch multiple group back to back that have similar designs/arrangement/choreography/sound as the groups before them. That's what i meant
this concert was very interesting. I'm from Cali, so i don't see many midwest/southern/east coast groups so seeing 6 different midwest/southern/east coasts groups got a little repetitive after a while.
this concert was very interesting. I'm from Cali, so i don't see many midwest/southern/east coast groups so seeing 6 different midwest/southern/east coasts groups got a little repetitive after a while.
I am sooooooo proud of HartBreakers for getting first. I am also just as proud of Sound Vibes for stepping it up in the finals, you guys made Cali proud.
Findlay was great - the choreography in the first number was astounishing (someone needs to get a video of that up) and their tap number was crazy. The whole show was fluid from beginning to the end.
Greece Athen was very interesting to watch. I didn't know it flowed like Findlay and it was very diverse to say the least, but your sound in a couple of the songs was amazing. I was surprised at your placement a little.
I'm sorry to say this, but I don't really understand about Fairfield...I wasn't too impressed with their show and so it didn't really suprise me their ranking. Maybe it was an off night?
Overall, it was a great competition. The whole finals thing makes it more exciting I think. We don't run our competitions that way out here. Congradulations to all for working hard!
Congrats to EVERYONE who performed, and I hope everybody made it home safe! I just wanted to say I had an amazing time this past weekend, and loved watching ALL of the groups!
Also, I wanted to give a BIG thank you to the FAME events staff for putting this competition on, and for inviting us to host. The FAME staff is very hardworking, and most people overlook that. It really does take a lot to put on a competition like that. So congrats to you FAME! Their staff was also very humble, and their generous hospitality is just amazing to me! You really have some great people working at FAME, especially for believing in show choir so much to put on amazing competitions like New York. You held another successful competition! Like I said before, you have the best held competitions, and the best show choirs, and a great staff! I always love coming to your competitions! And again, thank you for giving the Butler students this once in a life time experience!
Here is the info. that some people wanted.
Finalists performed in NO particular order, but in performance order:
1st finalist: Fairfield "Choraliers"
2nd finalist: Greece Athena "Show Choir"
3rd finalist: Bonita Vista "Music Machine"
4th finalist: Hart "Sound Vibes"
5th finalist: Findlay "First Edition"
6th finalist: Edgewood "Music Warehouse"
Best Crew: Carrol
Best Rhythm Section: Fairfield "Choraliers"
Best Horn: Findlay "First Edition"
Best Show Design: Findlay "First Edition"
Most Original: Morgantown "Images"
Best Diction: Hart "Sound Vibes"
Best Instrumental Combo: Findlay "First Edition"
Best Repetoire: Greece Athena "Show Choir"
FAME Award: Morgantown "Images"
(Sorry if the names are spelled wrong!)
Best Male Stage Presense: Tyler, Findlay "First Edition"
Best Female Stage Presense: Pylor, Hart "Sound Vibes"
Best Male Soloist: Eric, Findlay "First Edition"
Best Female Soloist: Corree', Bonita Vista "Music Machine"
Best Choreography: Findlay "First Edition"
Best Vocal Sound: Findlay "First Edition"
Single-Gender Division:
Grand Champion: Hart "Hart Breakers"
1st runner-up: Bonita Vista "Sound Unlimited"
2nd runner-up: Mt. Zion "Les Femmes"
Concert Choir Awards
Grand Champion: Greece Athena
Best Female Stage Presence was Pilar and shes from Hartbreakers and shes amazing!!
ahhh this competition was really long but fun. finally we got 1st place and all of Hartbreakers, myself included, could not have asked for a better competition to be named grand champions!!
FAME New York pretty much rocked my socks off! And to Jenny and Brandon (your undies off too!! LOL)
Seriously, this was such a well ran event with some really amazing choirs. I agree everyone had to be in top shape to pull to finals cause honestly there were three groups that were very good who didnt make it. The space looked awesome, the sound was generally pretty good (got much better after lunch) and the FAME staff was so organized and friendly. IT truly was a world class event all around. Congrats to all groups who competed and congrats to FAME for such an awesome event.
PS: I loved the host group too...does anybody know if they have a website? I tried but couldn't find one. Thanks
Hey Sparky1! I totally didn't realize you were going to be at the competition. Thank you for the compliment on the Headliners. This is my first year as a Headliner, and it was awesome to host this great competition. We don't really have a choir website or anything, but our school website is butlercc.edu if that helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to message me.
FAME New York pretty much rocked my socks off! And to Jenny and Brandon (your undies off too!! LOL)
Seriously, this was such a well ran event with some really amazing choirs. I agree everyone had to be in top shape to pull to finals cause honestly there were three groups that were very good who didnt make it. The space looked awesome, the sound was generally pretty good (got much better after lunch) and the FAME staff was so organized and friendly. IT truly was a world class event all around. Congrats to all groups who competed and congrats to FAME for such an awesome event.
PS: I loved the host group too...does anybody know if they have a website? I tried but couldn't find one. Thanks
I had such a great time at my first FAME. Everyone was so good i have never seen so many great choirs in one place. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO EVERYONE\
COMGRATS TO FINDLAY! Wow! that is so cool for you guys! ive never seen greece athena this year or hart so i dont have much of a say about the results but yay for everybody. sounds like it was an amazing competition!
I had such a great time at my first FAME. Everyone was so good i have never seen so many great choirs in one place. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO EVERYONE\
Dan, I felt the same way about the NYC finals this year. Last year was so fierce, Burroughs and North Central bringing everything they had, That big snake and Shakira number made my jaw drop... (I thought Burroughs shouldve taken it). I was sitting there this year just like common now guys... I DIDNT SEE FAIRFIELD, but Hart was the first to step it up a little and then of course Findlay brought it and was the only group to step it up a notch. I will say no more... Thank you for being at Fame Findlay and Hart (maybe Fairfield too).
Congratulations to all the schools who went. This was a VERY tough FAME competition, and there wasn't room in the finals for any groups that weren't hitting on all cylinders. I was there (on loan from the Burroughs organization) to try to sheperd my Morgantown orphans through the process, and I was as proud as could be to see what they accomplished. It was such a leap forward for them, and I was very gratified to hear the audience response. Of course, we didn't make finals, but we knew going in that it was going to be a tough one. Dr. Eklund actually gave us much higher scores than Mr. Fehr, who apparently couldn't get behind our "vocal percussion" style a capella, but that just goes to show you that different judges, both very qualified, can have very different opinions. I'd love to hear other people's take on Morgantown.
Also, let me just add my 1.5 cents on the whole competition. I've seen Findlay a couple of times and their shows are clean and strong. I don't think I've seen any group whose posture is more perfectly lifted (not stiff, but very beautiful). If you want to beat them, it doesn't matter what style you choose, you'd better be clean and strong too! Fairfield had some moments of brilliance, and I personally found their show to be more entertaining than Findlay's, but I also thought Hart and Greece were more entertaining than Findlay. However, that's just me. The final placings were certainly reasonable, no injustice was done. Burroughs learned long ago that having an interesting, innovative show only gets you top ratings if you are as clean and tight as everyone else. Congats to Hart for moving up in the finals; that's not easy to do.
In terms of Greece, I talked to some people who felt they "weren't playing fair" by having singers on mics so often (sometimes hidden, according to one judge I talked to) and by having people either sing or dance, but not both, in parts of their show, BUT, having said that, the singing and dancing that they DID do was very well executed, and the show was very unique and not boring.
My overall take on the finals, after the last group went, was that nobody really stepped it up into "finals" gear. Did anyone else feel that way? After watching Ankeny, Burroughs, F.C. and Troy Buchannan slug it out in Florida, I just wanted more......I dunno....something.
Anyway, congrats to all, and specially to Hart and B.V. for representing CA, and DOUBLE especially to Morgantown Images who went to their first Fame and proved that, while they're not the yankees yet, they are ready to play in the big leagues. Sergio and I couldn't be more (da dunt da dunt da dunt da dunt dunt dunt) PROUD!
just wondering if anyone saw albertville?... i konw they didn't make finals... but who cares... they had a blast and it was a great experience for them...
I thought they did a great job and the 6th finalist spot was really a toss up between Edgewood, Albertville and Carroll. I thought Findley was great all around and deserved GC. Greece's vocals were out of this world. Their choreo was different...not my cup of tea...but well done and the judges seemed to like it. I thought Fairfield did a great job and I would have placed them higher. Heart and Bonita Vista were also very strong and entertainting shows. Edgewood was definatly contemporary and I think the judges were favoring a more traditional show. All of the choirs did a great job and I believe that the point spread was very tight and the results could have been different on any given day. I hope everybody had as much fun in the Big Apple as we did!!
Congrats to EVERYONE who performed, and I hope everybody made it home safe! I just wanted to say I had an amazing time this past weekend, and loved watching ALL of the groups!
Also, I wanted to give a BIG thank you to the FAME events staff for putting this competition on, and for inviting us to host. The FAME staff is very hardworking, and most people overlook that. It really does take a lot to put on a competition like that. So congrats to you FAME! Their staff was also very humble, and their generous hospitality is just amazing to me! You really have some great people working at FAME, especially for believing in show choir so much to put on amazing competitions like New York. You held another successful competition! Like I said before, you have the best held competitions, and the best show choirs, and a great staff! I always love coming to your competitions! And again, thank you for giving the Butler students this once in a life time experience!
Here is the info. that some people wanted.
Finalists performed in NO particular order, but in performance order:
1st finalist: Fairfield "Choraliers"
2nd finalist: Greece Athena "Show Choir"
3rd finalist: Bonita Vista "Music Machine"
4th finalist: Hart "Sound Vibes"
5th finalist: Findlay "First Edition"
6th finalist: Edgewood "Music Warehouse"
Best Crew: Carrol
Best Rhythm Section: Fairfield "Choraliers"
Best Horn: Findlay "First Edition"
Best Show Design: Findlay "First Edition"
Most Original: Morgantown "Images"
Best Diction: Hart "Sound Vibes"
Best Instrumental Combo: Findlay "First Edition"
Best Repetoire: Greece Athena "Show Choir"
FAME Award: Morgantown "Images"
(Sorry if the names are spelled wrong!)
Best Male Stage Presense: Tyler, Findlay "First Edition"
Best Female Stage Presense: Pilar, Hart "Hartbreakers"
Best Male Soloist: Eric, Findlay "First Edition"
Best Female Soloist: Corree', Bonita Vista "Music Machine"
Best Choreography: Findlay "First Edition"
Best Vocal Sound: Findlay "First Edition"
Single-Gender Division:
Grand Champion: Hart "Hart Breakers"
1st runner-up: Bonita Vista "Sound Unlimited"
2nd runner-up: Mt. Zion "Les Femmes"
Concert Choir Awards
Grand Champion: Greece Athena
geez people lol We have contemporary and we have tradional. They're two different sytles and they both can be done very well, and when it boils down to it, in a competition it depends on who Perfermed their show the best on that day. Findlay won, they won all captions. The judging panel consisted of judges that know show choir. So why can't we just live with the results. Congrats to Findlay on a big win!
Coming from Winfield I learned this in my years in show choir....creativity doesn't win you points. Actually the years we did original music(two of my 4 years) I almost feel like we were judged harder than we were when we just did arrangements...even though 2003 and 2004 were two of our better choirs. So from that stand point I almost felt like we were penalized for being original sometimes.
That being said, I generally don't like the "old fashioned" style shows..but I always LOVE Findlay.
I think a big reason a lot of people don't like to watch these traditional style shows is they choose to not like it...I believe that if people wouldn't come into competitions with the thought process "Oh Findlay has the typical boring traditional show we have all come to know" and instead say "I'm really excited to see if Findlay is able to pull off their style with the strength they always have" then I think people will appreciate them and their style more.
i won't deny that everyone has differing tastes, to me, that is obvious and inescapable. however, i do not think that people who dislike Findlay do so out of some invisible obligation to be show choir elitists, or to be unfairly prejudicial against traditional shows. rather, if some of these people are anything like me, they place value in original, creative material. this does not mean that anyone is looking for groups like Findlay to do poorly, or to be judged more harshly than any other group. it only means the prospect of viewing a quality show of all original material is probably more enticing than watching a quality show with that same arrangement of "Too Darn Hot" as the closer.
*the above quote has been amended to only include information relevant to my response, see previous posts in topic for full citation.
QUOTE(E @ Apr 1 2007, 05:20 PM) 398194
See, here's what I don't understand. You say that Findlay is extremely clean and makes a vocal impact (as a comment: I have not seen Findlay at all; I can't comment on their show, just the style that's being discussed), but you're willing to hold against them the fact that their show has been done before. Innovation and creativity are great, but in the end, it comes down to how well you can sing & dance, and (apparently) Findlay can do that very well. There's a reason why traditional shows are traditional and are still being done - in many people's opinion, they are the best medium to express a group's vocal and choreographical talents. Maybe the reason why we've seen them so much is because they simple are the best type of show in a substantial amount of people's opinion.
i do not disagree with the bolded statement, and yes, Findlay can sing and dance very well. however, when a case occurs of two very excellent schools in competition, one utilising the traditional show with reused numbers and one utilising a more contemporary and diverse show with extremely inventive choreography, it is my belief that the contemporary show should be held in higher regard (given that the technical quality of both shows is very comparable). my reasoning is that every competition should be scored using scoresheets with a show design caption. without such a category, what is to encourage schools to transform technically perfect notes and dancesteps into something more cohesive, into something entertaining? part of show design is originality, creativity - perhaps this can be contested, but not very successfully in my mind - and on those grounds, high quality contemporary shows should be scored higher.