...The folk round was so sold out none of the choirs were allowed to watch each other except backstage on a slighty-out-of-focus projector with a live AV feed of the stage, so at least that was something albeit disappointing. Since we were second to last, we enjoyed being able to hear everyone else, except our new Basque friends since they were on right before us during our warmup time - argh! They had cool props, a horn, poles & everything! Thank goodness we were offstage in time to hear the Ugandans who went last. At the intermission I got a chance to stroll around the room taking photos of the cool outfits...boy did we feel boringly dressed but we knew we would. What the heck do you wear for an American folk outfit? :)
It was finally our turn, and it was awesome! Truly a performance to remember! We filled the room with not only our sound but our hearts, and the audience responded loudly! We have always loved the spirituals we did, and we nailed them, but the challenge of filling the minor-key shape note song with the joyous meaning of its lyrics ending in "and when from death I'm free I'll sing on" finally succeeded in the whole group, and I heard someone in the audience say "fabulous"...! What a rush! We came back into the choir room, and all of us had been cheering the choirs when they returned, but they were all on their feet, and the Basques were even blowing their horn for us! That is a moment to savor forever whether we get any official award or not. :)
Speaking of awards, at the end tonight they read the 3 finalists from the compulsory round, in no certain order. We heard "The Choral..." and I exhaled immediately, knowing we placed in one round. What a night! Everyone was too excited to go to bed right away, so there was some winding down hanging out, but we have to be ready to sing at a local church by 8:15am so I'd better get to bed!
Until next time!
Yay, Treo!
love, mom