The point difference between Mt. Zion and Hastings was .5 points.
Very close competition. Congrats to all groups that competed!
How the top 2 worked out to be the way they are:
Hastings band had the edge on Mt Zion's band by .5 points ... However, band points were not a factor in the final score. Hastings and Mt Zion were tied overall for points without band included. The tie breaker went to the judges' rankings, and it ended up being that one more judge ranked Mt Zion in 1st than Hastings. Thus, the outcome.
It was exciting to watch a lot of the shows on Saturday- especially sitting in the theatre still in our closer costumes, watching Twinsburg and Mt Zion perform We had only seen Twinsburg on YouTube, and we didn't get to see Mt Zion when we competed together at Onalaska in January since one of us was always performing while the other was in warm-up!
Other memorable shows were Uniondale (so much energy!!) and Lincoln Southwest (love their ballad!).
Congratulations to everyone who competed this weekend and also the ASPIRE award winners! Being a senior, I'm glad that I was able to finish my show choir career with such an amazing weekend.
Our director was interviewed by the local paper last week for an article- the official point total was 911 for both Mt Zion and Hastings. Wowza.
Do you have the point totals for all 18 of the FAME Nationals competitors and if so, would you please post them? I know their are many people other than just myself who would really like to see them!
Just spoke with our director during lunch- Hastings was .5 points from best overall combo. We were tied with Mt Zion for final points. Final scores did not include band- if band points were included, Hastings would have edged Mt Zion for the cup. However, since it was a tie, they asked the judges to rank the choirs. 3 ranked Mt Zion for first and only 2 ranked Hastings for first. Hence, how the opinion of one judge could have swayed the outcome either way. Such a close competition!!
Hastings band had the edge on Mt Zion's band by .5 points ... However, band points were not a factor in the final score. Hastings and Mt Zion were tied overall for points without band included. The tie breaker went to the judges' rankings, and it ended up being that one more judge ranked Mt Zion in 1st than Hastings. Thus, the outcome.
So close!!! But does anyone have scores/point totals for the entire division? I think that would be VERY interesting to look at. Overall, I think everyone was amazing - an amazing end to an amazing season. Until we all meet again in 2015...
They did some weird thing with the points, because originally if they were going by points we got 9th place but they took the point amount and gave us rankings, and that at least knocked us down don't know if it did that to the other groups or not
And with this I think we can put a cap on the incredible weird and amazing year of show choir that we had! I'm glad we all got to experience this awesome thing we do
Congrats to Mt. Zion!!! Their show was so, so, so much fun this year, and the kids delivered a very clean, exuberant, and kind performance. Happy to see them end up on top at the end of the year
I would like to throw out a congratulations to Petal for making it this far!!! Guys y'all are awesome and to go from missing finals a few times last year to making it all the way to Fame nationals this year is an incredible feat!! I've always been a big fan!!
Also, again, WAY TO GO KEVIN!!!
Calling McCormick Place/the Arie Crown Theater accessible by public transport is an actual joke. 30 minutes walking from the nearest L stop...
Actually there is a Metra train stop right at McCormick Place (line that starts at Millennium Park.) Unfortunately they don't stop there unless there are people waiting to be picked up. As I found out when the train buzzed past it and I had to get out at the next stop in the middle of nowhere and had to walk/run back to McCormick to catch ALA.
What a day. I originally was going with a friend but after she got sick, I decided it wasn't worth it to waste the $60 and ended up going by myself. Absolutely do not regret. Although I haven't been around the site much since graduating, I've still been lurking and watching shows on YouTube, and I was recently becoming worried that show choir was growing stale and repetitive.
However, today I had the distinct pleasure of watching 12 (sorry ALA, I didn't get there in time) amazing groups perform 12 completely different shows, with each of those hundreds of singer-dancers performing their hearts out. While this is probably trite, every single choir should be proud of their show today; the competition was absolutely fierce (in the best possible way), and although I probably won't ever make my way back to the show choir world, I leave excited to continue watching the field grow from the comfort of my computer (and the occasional Chicago-area competition).
For what it's worth, my top 6 were:
Hastings (BC, BB)
Lincoln Southwest
Findlay (BV)
Mt. Zion
Uniondale
Twinsburg
but I have absolutely no objection to the results - it honestly could have gone so many different ways. Some more random thoughts below:
Hastings - TURN UP. Oh wait, you already did. The energy throughout the whole show, particularly the second half (THAT CLOSER), was absolutely stellar, especially considering that your choreo still remained clean and your vocals were still great.
Brea - You guys are just fantastic performers; it's hard to believe that the same group sang that beautiful acapella and then had that fierce intensity 10 seconds later (this is not meant as snark, but I can't think of a way to word it better). Great, great singing.
Uniondale - Hopefully you know this already, but you brought the house down. Your show was just so incredibly fun to watch because everyone could tell you were having the time of your lives, and I really hope it makes it on YouTube sometime soon so I can keep jammin' with it.
Calling McCormick Place/the Arie Crown Theater accessible by public transport is an actual joke. 30 minutes walking from the nearest L stop...
Shoutout to the nice Davenport Central mom who hung out with me for the whole afternoon session!
Well, that's all from me. Congratulations again to every group, and thank you for a wonderful day. Talk to y'all in 3 years!
FAME Show Choir National Finals 2014
We had only seen Twinsburg on YouTube, and we didn't get to see Mt Zion when we competed together at Onalaska in January since one of us was always performing while the other was in warm-up!
