A Cappella Band with the Beautiful Voices

After we finished our poems, our Cyberfair a cappella band was ready to go. But before that, who is our teacher? How should the parts be assigned? Who is going to take the lead? Who is going to sing harmony? We couldn’t wait for the band to start!

Band members

• Assistant Teacher：Oliver
  Duties：memorizing the melody, analyzing the song for singing, assigning singing parts, demonstration, providing singing guidance, adjusting singing parts
• Members：Samantha, Vanilla, Cherry, Jessica, Winnie, Andrea, Henry, Ryan
  Duties：memorizing the melody, lead singers memorize the lyrics, harmony singers memorize acoustic techniques and pitch, working with each other.
  

Preparation

		Before rehearsal, there was a lot to do for the Assistant Teacher. Here is our Assistant Teacher Oliver to explain it all!

• Listening and analyzing the song
  Since we are adopting a song by HanGuang Vocal Band, our teacher asked me to listen to this song over and over again until I got the entire melody down thoroughly. After that, our teacher asked me to break down the song and analyze every verse, and then I needed to allocate each verse. Who will be the lead singer? Who will sing harmony? How should they sing the harmony? What voice percussion effects should be added? The original video that we got was a bit blurry, so the teacher asked HanGuang for a clearer version for me.

• Singing parts assignment
  In the beginning, our teacher asked me to assign singing parts based on the parts that they have in the school choir. For those who were not in the school choir, we asked them to sing and then decide which singing parts they would take on.
  Soprano：Jessica, Samantha, Winnie
  Alto：Cherry, Andrea, Vanilla
  Tenor：Henry
  Baritone：Oliver
  Voice Percussion：Ryan

• Lead singer assignment
  Originally, I wanted everyone to sing a verse or two, but our teacher said if we do that, then everyone needs to memorize the poems, and we need to have great team chemistry to pull that off. After discussion, we changed it to one lead singer for every season. And the assignment is as followed:

Practice time

• Individual practices
  Before practices, our teacher asked us to go online and listen to performance by HanGuang Vocal Band. As we listened to the tune, we had to watch the music score for each part as analyzed by the conductor. The lead singers need to memorize the lyrics well, voice percussion needs to know where the sound effects should come in, harmony needs to work together to make the song more vibrant.

• Conducting by assistant teacher
  Everyone was silent in the beginning, and the conductor was shy as well. So the teacher asked the lead singer to start us off by following the song by HanGuang Vocal Band. Afterwards, the conductor went over the song with us twice, and then we sang on our own to make sure every lead singer was able to sing the right tune. Since the tune for autumn was a bit challenging, so we practiced a few times to help the lead singer. After the lead singers felt comfortable with the songs, we practiced the harmony with the girls first, and then the boys. The voice percussion part was more complex. We needed to mimic the sound of wind, birds, and jazz drum. During the practice, we found out that Ryan did not know how to whistle, so we got Henry to help out.

• Band practice
  After the conductor made sure every singing part was ready, our teacher then asked us to sing together. When all parts sang together, we found out that lead singing and voice percussion were not loud enough. Then we decided to add more people into those parts. Conductor Oliver helped out with voice percussion, Cherry helped with the lead in spring, Ryan helped with the lead in summer, Jessica and Cherry helped with the lead in autumn, and Samantha helped with the lead in winter. After more people are added, the sound got louder and fuller, but there is still something lacking in autumn because HanGuang’s version was done by males, so the key was too low for girls. Our teacher asked the conductor to help out with the two low key verses, and then the lead would follow. It turned out to be a good switch.

• Final rehearsal
  After repeated practices, adjustments, and corrections, everyone thought we were getting better. Our teacher recorded our rehearsal to help us see if there were any places where we could improve on. Conductor Oliver said there was an interlude between each season in HanGuang’s performance, so we decided to add that into ours, and it turned out surprisingly fantastic! After a few more rounds of singing, the way we would interpret the song was finalized. Our teacher and conductor asked us to practice our parts a few more times at home.

Recording

On the day of recording, we did it in the music classroom where sound insulation was much better. Before the actual recording, we went over the song a couple more times just to bring everyone on the same page. When the actual recording began, we tried three times before going back to the computer classroom to pick out the best one for our final presentation.

Results Afterthoughts

		Oliver The Cyberfair team has been quite busy writing our poems for our a cappella performance of ‘Joy of Studying in Four Seasons.’ I volunteered to be the a cappella assistant conductor. During that time, I found that a conductor needed to do more than just assigning duties. There is lots of preparation work to be done, and whenever team members encounter a problem, I had to help them solve it. In the beginning, I was a bit reluctant to do a singing demonstration for everyone. With encouragement from the teacher, I was able to do it with courage. During our practices, the autumn part needed some singing help, and the voice percussion part needed whistling help, and I was the guy for the job. After being a conductor, I realized that a conductor cannot be shy. I must be willing to offer help and take the initiative with patience to teach my band members. This is what makes a good conductor. Now I know how difficult it is to be a good conductor. Nevertheless, I still think being a conductor is fun, and I hope to have another crack at it in the future.

Source: the Beautiful Voices | Photo: the Beautiful Voices