Brian McCallister's Best Male Soloist award makes him 5 for 5 on the year. Add those to Fame Chicago 2012. Has anyone else done something like this before?
Cody Jackson from Gretna is 5 for 5 this year with FAME Chicago still to come!
Brian McCallister's Best Male Soloist award makes him 5 for 5 on the year. Add those to Fame Chicago 2012. Has anyone else done something like this before?
David Tahere- Davenport West "West Connection" '02, '03, '04 had a pretty crazy run of Best Male Soloist / Solo Competition wins.
Brian McCallister's Best Male Soloist award makes him 5 for 5 on the year. Add those to Fame Chicago 2012. Has anyone else done something like this before?
Alison Vance from Hurricane "Red Hot" 2014 went 6 for 6 on the year. And has won 8 of the last 9 dating back to last year. Both are pretty incredible feats.
Brian McCallister's Best Male Soloist award makes him 5 for 5 on the year. Add those to Fame Chicago 2012. Has anyone else done something like this before?
For finals I had:
Buffalo Grove (sweep)
Plainfield
Laff Jeff
Batavia
Wheeling
Hersey
Batavia certainly deserved to be in finals, and there was nothing mediocre about their show. Their ballad was excellent, but they are just not at Buffalo Grove's stratospheric level.
I feel that this competition was the break-out for both Batavia and Wheeling and look for great shows from them. Beating Hersey and Prospect is a big deal.
For those who haven't seen BG's ballad (the best of the year), they can be seen at their Big Show,
May 1, 2, & 3. Their vocal pops show is far and away the best in Chicagoland. They pack enough fully choreographed material into their show to fill 3 or 4 finals worthy shows. It is truly amazing.
Disclaimer: I have no association with BG.
It's a question that I have wondered aloud lately and just had a conversation with some judges who have been around the show choir block in the last 30 years- Does amazing vocals in one song override bad-average-mediocre-out of tune-or boring vocals in the rest of the show? It's a question I've wondered before this competition so please don't think I am siding with any group- just saw this comment and it sparked that very question.
I totally agree. However, after listening to judges comments all year long, I have to say sometimes it feels like judges score vocals only on the ballad. I feel like judges want to hear lots of consonants in dancing songs, and are looking for one soft section per song. Is that even musicality???
I keep hearing a lot of "we want 2s/3s and 9s/10s" (when referring to dynamic contrast) in non-ballad songs. Is that musicality or forced dynamic contrast for the purpose of getting more points? Choirs like GCS do not adhere to this volume "rule", and I would call them one of the most musical singing choirs of the past 15 years.
Again, something I've thought aloud recently. Has nothing to do with this comp, necessarily, just a trend I've noticed this year.
I wasn't here, but at Wheaton, Buffalo Grove's ballad was stunning. Some say the best ballad of the day. I'm scratching my head at the captions here.
Indeed it was stunning (at both comps). I think they should call in a structural engineer to check the stability of the auditorium's roof at Mundelein from where they raised it after performing that ballad!!!
I wasn't here, but at Wheaton, Buffalo Grove's ballad was stunning. Some say the best ballad of the day. I'm scratching my head at the captions here.
Indeed it was stunning (at both comps). I think they should call in a structural engineer to check the stability of the auditorium's roof at Mundelein from where they raised it after performing that ballad!!!
It's a great question, but I hope the answer is no. A ballad may be a great opportunity to showcase a vocal piece that's more elaborate (or maybe earn some bonus points), but it shouldn't completely trump the rest of the show. Otherwise groups might as well sing a concert piece and then dance for 15 minutes.
I think what makes show choir so impressive is the inherent combination; the ability to perform song and dance simultaneously and strive for perfection in each.
Does amazing vocals in one song override bad-average-mediocre-out of tune-or boring vocals in the rest of the show?
It's a great question, but I hope the answer is no. A ballad may be a great opportunity to showcase a vocal piece that's more elaborate (or maybe earn some bonus points), but it shouldn't completely trump the rest of the show. Otherwise groups might as well sing a concert piece and then dance for 15 minutes.
I think what makes show choir so impressive is the inherent combination; the ability to perform song and dance simultaneously and strive for perfection in each.
If there is a video or audio of Batavia singing their ballad, the naysayers may have to rethink. That was simply amazing. Acapella, True colors. Could've been performed on the sing off on national television.
You're opening an entirely new can of worms.
It's a question that I have wondered aloud lately and just had a conversation with some judges who have been around the show choir block in the last 30 years- Does amazing vocals in one song override bad-average-mediocre-out of tune-or boring vocals in the rest of the show? It's a question I've wondered before this competition so please don't think I am siding with any group- just saw this comment and it sparked that very question.
After seeing Buffalo Grove at Wheaton, I'm surprised they didn't take any captions, let alone sweep. Does anybody have scores to see how close everybody was?
I was there. I was pretty amazed that a 'festival' division choir won best vocals. They were quite good but nobody was close to Buffalo Grove.
After seeing Buffalo Grove at Wheaton, I'm surprised they didn't take any captions, let alone sweep. Does anybody have scores to see how close everybody was?
Mundelein Invitational 2014
Sorry! Accidental repeat posting.
