Ask me about my Debut...

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  

A Cappella

A Cappella

A Cappella

One of our choir members being interviewed by the CBC, said it best:

  Singing at Carnegie Hall is a dream come true. A dream I never had until it came true. 

Because really, none of us are professional musicians. We sing for the pure joy of it and through practice and dedication, manage to put on some pretty amazing concerts. But none of us are in it for fame or fortune. So the idea of singing at Carnegie Hall, one of the most prestigious and historic stages in the world, just never really crossed our minds.

That is until about a year ago when we were surprised at rehearsal with the news that we had been invited to participate in the first-ever Total Vocal concert at Carnegie Hall. An all A Cappella production put on by Distinguished Concerts International and directed by Deke Sharon (Musical Director for the Pitch Perfect Movies and the TV show The Sing Off).  All of a sudden our Carnegie dream, the dream we never dreamt of having, came true.

And I think I can safely say that it exceeded all of our expectations.

Anyone can be cool, but awesome takes practice.

My mission in life is to get more people to sing.  We need more singing in our culture.

This is the message that we received from Deke Sharon at the onset of two days of rehearsals with choirs from across the U.S. and Australia. I didn't really know what to expect going into rehearsals. I knew of Deke Sharon and loved Pitch Perfect, but didn't know much beyond that. After our first day of rehearsal, I can honestly say that he is one of the most passionate, inspirational and incredible people I know. He kept us on the edges of our seats the entire rehearsal period with entertaining anecdotes and a lust for singing and spreading joy through song that goes unparalleled.

He even took the end of rehearsal periods where there was a bit of extra time left, to teach us some vocal percussion tricks. We left each rehearsal energized, more polished than the day before, and so excited for the show to come.

And we are Sold Out!

That's right, 2,800 seats and they were sold out. Friends and family yes, but with regular folk too! And the energy was intense. The first half of the performance was left to the high school students, with our combined choir rounding out the second half with songs ranging from Michael Jackson's Wanna be Startin' Something to the grande finale, U2's Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. 

 

We had some amazing soloists, other than Deke Sharon himself, namely Kelley Jakle and Shelley Regner from Pitch Perfect, Sean Altman (think Rockapella) and Chesney Snow (the coolest vocal percussionist I now know).

The entire audience was asked at the end of the performance to join in a song almost everyone knows, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Deke's call out to the audience was this: 

You guys are not allowed to leave the auditorium if you have not sung. We are checking vocal cords at the door. Sing whatever you want. Any part at all. Just have fun. Here we go.  

And everyone did. It felt like each and every person in a crowd of 3,200 was connected by something greater than that moment. It's a feeling that I can't really put into words. It was immense, uplifting and probably one of the most "spiritual" moments of my life. The power of music to connect people and to bring pure, electric happiness was undeniable at that moment.

And as Deke walked off the stage, he turned to us and said "You crushed it!". I don't think there was a single one of us who didn't agree in that moment. Looking back on it now, it feels a bit unreal. Like "did that really happen?" But the pictures prove that it did. It was magic and we will all hold onto that moment for a lifetime I'm sure.

Another highlight for me was having the aunts and uncles on my Mom's side along with my Mom and Dad all there to see me. It was the first time I'd been in New York with them since I was around 9 years old and seeing them all waving at me from the balcony when we're normally separated by the distance of countries and states, and singing along with us in the final song was so very special to me.

New York still doesn't sleep...

In between all of this amazing singing and learning and bonding, we managed to burn the candle at both ends (which my body has definitely caught up to this week in the form of a wicked cold). While I've been to New York many times, I'd never been with such a large group (read all the fun of a high school trip with the freedom as adults to do whatever the hell you want).

Here are some memorable NYC moments thrown into the mix:

NYC Day 1: Birch night on the town.  

• Yummy dinner at the Ivy. 
• Eclectic live music at Pianos.
• Karaoke and beer...the end to a perfect NYC night.

NYC Day 2: After rehearsal

• Finding random graffiti hotspots.
• Indian Disco dinner at Panna II - where Christmas lights meet chilli pepper lights.
• Cabaret with the surprisingly good Sienna Miller and the infallible Alan Cummings.
• Sleep No More: Masks and crazy nurses and lady Macbeth - weird but fantastic!

NYC Day 3: 

• Run in central park to the sounds of french and german tour guide musings and the scent of roasted nuts.
• Brunch with Mom and Dad at the Russian Tea Room - so lush. Mom remembers smokey pictures of Frank Sinatra up in here back in the day.
• Times Square and drinks at the Marriott - a bird's eye of Manhattan.
• So much meat at the Carnegie Deli.

NYC Day 4:

• Brunch at Sarabeths - my aren't we fancy!
• SHOWTIME!!!
• After Party with singing and drinking galore.
• Late show at the Comedy Cellar (I kind of fell asleep - it was a long weekend)

I leave you with Deke's message (paraphrased):

Sing.  At the top of your lungs. Like no one is listening. Because it's in us to sing. It's natural.  And it has the power to do amazing things! (And you know you want to...)

I don't sing because I'm happy, I'm happy because I sing...