Letter from the Director: KaeRenae Mitchell
Hello, alums and friends!
These have been trying times, and the Chorus and I are doing everything possible to persevere and remain an awesome community of singers dedicated to performing versatile repertoire superbly!
Last March was a shock for us as I’m sure it was for you. An entire year’s worth of planning for our 45th anniversary suddenly evaporated and I want to thank our managing board (MB) members Mary Katherine McCullough, Emily Fox, Mackenna Gordon, and Julia Kothmann for all the work they had done to prepare for this celebration. And I thank our AFA board members and our team captains who also helped with the plans.
Suddenly students were told not to come back to UVA and everything felt suspended and unreal. The stages of grief and loss – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance – of our semester had to be experienced alone. My heart went out to everyone and especially to our graduating members, who were robbed of their expectations of graduation. We pretty much shut down for a month.
A blessing that the Chorus was planning to sing for you at our Anniversary Concert lay dormant until I decided to create a “virtual” choir and recording. We tried to get it to you by the day when we would have all been singing together, and it was only a few days late. April 21 was the YouTube launch date of VWC’s 1st virtual choir. Nine days later, Julia Kothmann did a great job of adding the videos of the members singing. I learned a great deal about GarageBand as I fumbled my way through the sound editing, but was pleased with it and grateful for the members who submitted their recordings in record time.
They say the hormone oxytocin helps people forget the pain of childbirth. I’m not sure what helped me forget the long hours of labor editing the sound, but when the singers responded to my request for lighter, more popular songs, I jumped on the chance to arrange and record My Tears Ricochet. The Chorus had its first online rehearsal (1 hour long) and quickly turned in recordings in less than a week. I forgot to include a metronome on the click/guide track (my bad) and thus spent even more hours editing the sound. I wanted to get our video out in time for the Rotunda Sing to show the versatility of the Chorus. Rachel Hoak, our publicity chair, did a great job with the visuals. Have a look and listen - the girls sound amazing!
I also want to give a shout out to Jana Pushkin, who created an incredibly artsy and informative audition video.
If you want to get to know some of our current members better, check it out. The Vdubz continue on!
This is all to say the Chorus has not been dormant during this stressful time. The MB and I have been meeting regularly over the summer to try to plan for a safe and fun return to singing this semester. We are all deeply concerned about this virus and want to do our part to keep the cases from spreading. Singing is one of the most unsafe activities, though probably not as bad as wrestling, and I did my due diligence in keeping up with the ACDA and NATS recommendations as we all blundered our way through ideas and experiments. I found what I believe to be an incredibly perfect place to sing outside where 14 members and I could be socially distanced by 10 feet. I also researched and sewed many different “models” of a singer’s mask – one that would allow for jaw movement and tall vowels – and one that would allow the singer to not suck in fabric with every breath since it would be 2-3 inches away. Zip ties, pipe cleaners, and various other contraptions are sewn into the mask to serve this purpose.
While we are still hoping to use this outdoor space, we have decided to hold our first week of rehearsals online. No one will ever be required to attend an in-person rehearsal and all rehearsals will be Zoomed. Using the Zoom platform has one problem – I cannot hear the singers because of latency issues with varying upload speeds of individuals’ computers. I am currently looking into the Jamulus platform, and if anyone has any experience with this, I would be most appreciative. Since we do not have the support of the music department, nor do we have a tech person, we are doing it all ourselves.
The Chorus has been asked to sing at the virtual celebration of 50 years of women at the U, “UVA Retold” to take place October 10. I have arranged a song and written lyrics but at this time we do not know if 10 singers will appear live or if we’ll be submitting a video with all the singers. We will keep you posted.
We have also been asked to sing for UVA Children’s Hospital “Day of Remembrance” on October 17. We will sing May It Be, the song we sang for a baby’s memorial service last January. This was a moving experience, and for almost all of us it was the first time singing at a memorial service for a little one. For some singers, it was the first time singing for a memorial service, and the Chorus did amazingly well. Kudos to them for sharing their music in such an intensely moving way.
I am deeply grateful for our MB who have hung tough through all of this. I try to be a cheerleader most of the time, but sometimes I too need to be cheered on, and they’ve been absolutely wonderful. I’m also glad our alum and friend network is getting stronger and you will read more about their plans in this newsletter.
Everything is much more complicated and difficult with this pandemic, as you all well know, but the MB and I are hanging tough and plan to have a semester of community and music-making, though in different and creative ways. Any suggestions or assistance you can offer will be most appreciated. Please be generous in your financial support of the Chorus when they call you during our Annual Fund Drive September 26 and 27. Any amount you can give will be graciously received. We know this can be a financially rough time.
Finally, all best wishes to each and every one of you with hopes that you and your loved ones and friends will stay safe during this pandemic.
Vdubz love,
KaeRenae