Concert Review Make-Up Assignments
Please note that this assignment is for "Excused" concert absences only. Students with "Unexcused" Concert absences do not have the opportunity to complete a make-up assignment.
1. SINGING QUIZ: Students may sing their concert selections for me to demonstrate they have memorized and mastered their concert music even though they were not able to perform in concert. This is not to be performed in front of the entire class, but students must schedule an after-school time with Mrs. Sulisz. A parent or friend is welcome to be present in the room for moral support if the student prefers. Students will be graded using the MSVMA S&E rubric (available upon request).
2. CONCERT REVIEW PAPER: If students prefer a written option, they can write a concert review paper (directions below):
- Attend a local concert or musical. Suggestions: A Dundee MS choir concert, a Dundee HS choir concert, a choir concert from a surrounding school (these are almost always free), a local HS musical, a local semi-professional musical (check the Croswell Theatre in Adrian for example), a local band concert...
- Take notes at the concert. What did you love? What was really successful? What was less successful? Why?
- Type a two (or more) page paper that includes the following:
b. Where and when the concert was performed
c. Who was the director and who were the performers (you do not need to list every name if it was a choral performance, but you can list the names of the choirs)
d. Describe the performers: did anyone really stand out (soloists, specific characters?)
e. Describe the music: did any songs stand out? What did it sound like?
f. Briefly describe the plot (if you attended a musical)
g. Describe your favorite and least favorite parts
h. Describe the audience's reception. Did they love it? Were they respectful? Did anyone walk out?
i. What were your overall opinions of the performance? Did you enjoy it? How did it compare with other performances you have seen? What would you have changed about it?
- Your paper is due one week after your missed choir concert.
- If there are no live concerts within that time period you can attend, let me know and I will grant you an extension. If we are not able to find a live concert for you to attend, you can watch a live concert or musical on youtube or rent one from netflix as a last resort. Please make sure to check with me to make sure it's an acceptable recording first.
Concert reviews will be graded on:
- The quality of your writing and the thought you put into it.
- How well you incorporated the musical terms we have learned in class this year. For example:
b. Did you describe the tempo of the pieces using the correct terminology (eg. largo, presto, moderato)?
c. Did you comment on any specific rhythmic elements you were able to detect (eg. triplets, syncopation, 4/4 time, 3/4 time, use of fermatas, etc.)?
d. Did you discuss the singers' vocal techniques (eg. singing in head voice, singing in chest voice, belting, good / bad placement, good / bad breathing, good / bad posture, etc.)?
e. Did you comment on the singers / performers stage etiquette (eg. talking on stage, proper attire, etc.)?
- Proper use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Here is an example review of the musical "Wicked" done by Kevin Prokosh of the Winnepeg Free Press:
The return to Winnipeg of the touring musical Wicked — the untold story of a misunderstood witch of colour — convincingly confirms that its appeal is evergreen.
A repeat viewing at the Centennial Concert Hall after a three-year interval has not altered the appreciation for this complete — and completely satisfying — stage spectacle, featuring flying monkeys, a soaring score and airborne witches.
Wicked delivers dazzle and depth with a tale that is moving, funny and timely. The only disappointment came before Thursday night’s show, when it was learned that star Laurel Harris was off sick with a sinus infection and her understudy, Alyssa Fox, would go on as the emerald-hued wicked witch Elphaba. Fox’s stellar performance, however, only raised curiosity about how Harris could be any better.
In his 1995 book, novelist Gregory Maguire spun off L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to give the future Wicked Witch of the West a history, focusing on her friendship with Glinda the Good Witch in the land of Oz before Dorothy dropped in.
The story gradually meets up with the Wizard of Oz, with scenes reminiscent of the 1939 movie. Along the way, the movie’s fans get answers to several questions, including how Elphaba came to wear the distinctive, all-black costume and pointy hat, where her green skin came from, and how the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow found themselves wanting.
But at its essence, Wicked is a buddy story about schoolmates Elphaba, with her smarts, magical powers and a cauldron-sized chip on her shoulder caused by her frightening appearance, and Galinda (her pre-witch name), who is, in sharp contrast, the fairest of them all (as well as ditsy, spoiled and blondfully ambitious).
One of the heartfelt moments of the evening finds a young Elphaba, not so comfortable in her green skin, defiantly alone on the dance floor at the Ozdust Ballroom, making spastic moves reminiscent of Seinfeld’s Elaine while her contemptuous fellow students snicker. She is saved from her moment of crushing awkwardness and loneliness when Glinda tentatively joins her and they take their first clumsy steps towards friendship. Elphaba becomes a hero for many young girls because they can empathize with the way her parents rejected her and schoolmates shunned her.
Fox possesses the big mezzo-soprano voice that Elphaba needs, and she brought down the house with her signature numbers The Wizard and I, Everest and Defying Gravity, the first-act climax that sends the audience into intermission wowed.
She also proved that she can dial down her feminist passion and display vulnerability in the haunting musical gem I’m Not That Girl, which expresses a sentiment many in the audience can sadly identify with.
Right from the moment the beaming Galinda floats onstage in her metal bubble with the greeting, "It’s so good to see me, isn’t it," she is perky perfection. She’s right; it is always good to see her onstage during the almost three-hour evening. Kara Lindsay brings real comic magic to the irresistible tune Popular, in which she wiggles, sashays and flounces in her attempt to make over Elphaba.
Kathy Fitzgerald makes Madame Morrible marvelously malevolent, while Matt Shingledecker’s heroic Fiyero is far more three-dimensional than the previously seen incarnation of the character. Understudy Lauren Haughton, as the tragic Nessarose, also puts a grittier edge on what always seems a thankless role.
Lee Slobotkin is an appealing Munchkin Boq, whose tortured heart leads to a surprising and familiar development. Gene Weygandt’s ethically challenged Wizard of Oz is both fatherly and, when he has to be, menacing.
Visually, Wicked is a wonder, starting with Eugene Lee’s Victorian steampunk set, which suggests the inside of a giant clock. The smoke-breathing, red-eyed dragon looming over the stage is impressive but otherwise irrelevant. Susan Hilferty’s whimsical costumes appear to be a cross between Tim Burton and Dr. Seuss, while Kenneth Posner’s lighting adds to the eye candy even in quiet moments, as when a slanted rain falls on a despondent Elphaba.
Stephen Schwartz’s rich and catchy score holds Wicked all together, although the first act’s numbers are far superior. An accepted measure of a good musical is whether patrons leave humming any of the songs; on the way out Thursday night, it sounded like the peppy Popular was the clear crowd favourite.
[email protected]