The Definition of Show Choir

Though the TV show GLEE has made show choir a lot more popular, it has also created many misconceptions about it. No, we do not go to class everyday and sing pop songs with a backup band randomly. We don’t learn our music the week before our competition and we can’t sight-read perfectly the first time we see music. We also aren’t able to produce a radio-ish sound with only 10 people. We also don't get slushies in our faces every day.

In real show choir, there are real teenagers who attend a real high school. It takes us weeks to learn a song and after we learn it, we have to spend months getting all of our dynamics, diction, and phrasing just right. Our work is never done and there is no such thing as perfect. We do have some amazing soloists but they actually sound like real people and make mistakes too. In real show choir, we have to work every day learning how to use our voices. We need to work on our technique and do multiple voice exercises and such to train our voices to sound good. Sometimes songs “sit” in an awkward place in our voice range because female voices don’t mature until about at 25 and make voices don’t mature until about age 35.  This means that our voices are constantly changing and we need to keep working them every day to keep them in shape and developing correctly.

The dancing on GLEE is a bit more realistic than the singing. The dancing on real show choir, though, is a lot cooler because there are a lot more people and so you can have cool ripples, awesome feature groups, or eye catching formations. Depending on your choreographer and the level of dancing in your group, you can have more typical choreography like jazz hands, jazz squares, arm diagonals etc., or more modern “hip hop” dancing. In GLEE there is also “booty camp” for the not as gifted dancers. We don’t single people out like that, but people do get together outside of practice to help each other and such.

Also, at Kennedy, we don’t have “assignments” every week that focus on a certain lesson we should learn. We aren’t required to get up in front of everyone and sing a fun song with a message. In fact, no has ever sung a song randomly for us. Sure, us choir nerds are constantly singing J but we don’t actually perform for each other regularly. We don’t sing “mash-ups” constantly either. I had never heard of the term mash-up at all until GLEE. So as you can seem televised show choir and real show choir are very different. If you don't believe me, watch n episode of GLEE and then go and look up John F Kennedy Happiness Inc Show Choir on YouTube.com. I think you’ll be delighted with the real thing. (485 words)

Happy Tears

I have never in my life cried happy tears before. I’ve had plenty of sad, exhausted, frustrated, mourning, and angry tears, but never any out of joy. I experienced this new sensation about a week and a half ago right before my very first show choir competition as a member of Happiness Incorporated.

Ever since third grade, I have aspired to be in Happiness Inc. My brother Stephen was in it for three years and was a pretty significant member, having solos and being in the front row with feature parts and such. He was so good and I dreamed for the day when I could have my own bright yellow jacket and win trophies just like him. I watched him at every single competition and cheered him on just like the big kids in the yellow and green jackets. My brother Joe was also in Happiness. Though he didn’t have solos, he was always in front and was a part of the feature dance parts. I went to all of his competitions as well. This dream of mine has been stirring and building for eight years, and has only gotten bigger these past two years because I have been so close.

The morning of the Linn Mar competition, I was getting pumped up. I was getting all my stuff together and sort of dancing around my room when it hit. I was about to compete with Happiness Incorporated. All of my dreams were about to come true. This is the day I’ve been waiting for since I first saw my brother in his yellow jacket when I was eight years old. I have been cheering on Happiness for eight years and this was finally my time to be the one others look up to and cheer on. I couldn’t handle it. I just started to cry.

It was the coolest feeling in the world to be so overwhelmed by happiness (no pun intended) that I literally couldn’t keep myself from crying. It was one of the best moments of my life and I really hope to feel that way again. (351 words)

Turn it Off

Persuasive Essay Draft 1

Turn it Off

Why are people so addicted to television? It’s never real life and the interesting things that people watch habitually do not do anything good for you. Sure you may watch the news or some health or history shows, but people are constantly watching unimportant shows that are fine in moderation, but no one ever watches in moderation. All of this extra television is doing nothing for our minds, our bodies, or our time. People everywhere need to cut back on their addiction to television and focus on the more important things in life.

            Watching television and movies is a fun pastime. It’s a nice way to relax after a hard day or week of work and it doesn’t require any effort. You can also multitask while watching television and it may keep things interesting or fun. Using television as a reward is a good use. The bad effects of television come when people, especially children, make a habit of watching television instead of doing other important things like getting their work done or exercising. TV can be a very distracting activity that causes time to fly by without you knowing it. One minute you have all night to do things and the next your whole night it gone and you’ve accomplished nothing. When you need a break, it’s good to relax, but don’t give into the temptation of “just one more episode” because it’s never just one. You get hooked and then you can’t turn it off and you relaxation ended up causing you more stress. If you discipline yourself to get your work done first and then relax when you have the time and nothing else to so, your life will be so much more organized and relaxed. I have recently sworn off TV until my schedule cools down, and I feel much more control now. Sure it was very hard for me at first because I literally have nine shows that I try and stay up-to-date on from week to week, but I figure that they will still be available for me to watch when I have the time and freedom to do so. It really isn’t that hard to discipline yourself; you just have to commit.

            Saturday morning cartoons used to be a coveted time. Kids would watch their favorite cartoons and then go play outside. Now, kids watch their favorite cartoons all the time, and hardly ever go outside to play. Instead of running outside and playing with their neighborhood friends, kids today watch TV and then talk about it at school. This television distracts them from their learning and causes kids to become antisocial and anti-active. Children today are overweight. The main factor of that is children don’t go crazy outdoors anymore. They stay inside, watch TV, and eat not because they are hungry but because they are bored. Kids are so focused on the shows they watch, they don’t build relationships outside of their home. Children also substitute movies for books now. Instead of the joy of reading a book, kids watch TV and get their imagination (or lack thereof) from that. Kids today are missing out on the joys of being a kid. Just turn off your television and participate in reality.(540 words)

Online Feelings

Some people just don’t know what is acceptable to put on the Internet. The other day I saw a quote that said: “If you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t put it on Facebook.” When I saw this I thought “Amen sista!” I know everyone has personal problems but you don’t need to post them where everyone can see and where more drama can start because of it.

If you break up with your boyfriend, don’t post things. Everyone who knows you obviously knows of whom it’s about. Your boyfriend will also obviously be able to see it and so then he knows how you are feeling. It just feeds the fire if it was a bad breakup. If you badmouth him, he will bad mouth you in retaliation, and a vicious cycle starts. You will end up feeling super crappy and no matter what you think, it will not help you get him back or get over him.

If it was an okay breakup, posting things is a little weird. If you have really melancholy posts it could send the message that you actually aren’t over him and you want him back. This probably makes him a little uncomfortable and won’t help your relationship or lack there of. You could also look like a total brat to. If you have a lot of upbeat posts after a break up, you look like you’re super glad you two broke up and you don’t care about him at all. That’s just a little harsh and a bit mean to him. He can obviously see everything you posted and so can everyone else so why make yourself look like an insensitive brat?

Also, it’s pretty obvious you want attention id you post things for anyone to see. The whole reason you posted it is for other people to see it and ask you about it. How about you keep your personal matters private and deal with them not in public. If you really are having a problem with something, go talk directly to someone. Things get lost in translation and so if you tweet something like “last night was super fun” and someone sees it, they could make up a story about you getting wasted and hooking up with a bunch of people and crazy nonsense like that.

I get that you need to express your feelings but please, use a journal! I don’t want to know all of your problems because I have enough of them on my own. Be considerate. (421 words)

Suck it Up

                What happened to my dance studio? It used to be so good, but now it’s just mediocre.  What happened to the drive everyone used to have? Where did the sense of friendly competition go that made everyone better dancers? What happened to the focus and discipline that was constantly in practice? I wish I was a part of that studio. I know what happened; our studio split in two and we lost teachers and students to a new studio that we practically made. But why did we all of a sudden suck after they left? Obviously we were good because all of those teachers and dancers who left were trained by our original teachers before they became teachers themselves. So what the heck happened to us?

                We didn’t suck initially. I was only in eighth grade but I could tell we didn’t suck. We were considerable smaller but we still had talented dancers and a new, talented teacher that we were really excited about. After two years, new people, younger people, came into our troupes that had not know the sense of discipline and hard work that used to go into every dance class. When my brothers dances, they would sweat their tails off all class long and all that hard work paid off because they got platinum ratings (the highest possible), high point awards (aka first place), and special judges awards. They dominated. When our studio split, most of the really amazing dancers either had graduated or went to the other studio because they thought it would be the most awesome experience ever. (It wasn’t and most of them quit dance after one year. Some of them even regretted switching to the new studio.) We were left with good dancers and hard workers which was pretty great. But after they all graduated, we were left with the new generation of dancers who hadn’t been a part of the hard-core studio days. All of the new dancers now are lazy and don’t want to work hard, which is rubbing off on our new teachers. It’s so frustrating because even if I wanted to work hard and the teachers wanted to work hard, no one else would. If we had a hard class all of the dancers would complain, get mad at the teacher, and not try. No wonder we get gold ratings at competitions now and never get any high point or special awards. When we do poorly everyone always says “we actually did well because it was a hard competition and there were a lot of good studios there.” That technically shouldn’t matter because we get judged on our own personal dancing and we are not compared to other groups in order to determine our score. It’s our own fault we don’t do well, not the fault of the competition. People just need to suck it up and do the work. How do you expect to succeed without practice? Don't blame the world, blame yourself and be better. Or just stop dancing and let the rest of us that actually love it, do it. (515 words)

If Only...

If only my life was a chick flick. Life would be so easy and predictable. I would end up with my one true love and I would have fun finding him for the most part. I would encounter hardships no doubt. I would have enemies try to sabotage my life. I would probably believe I was in love with a few jerks and therefore get my heartbroken. I might do something crazy and mess up or say something terrible that I didn’t mean and be so scared that I screwed everything up. I’d probably be alone and crying a few times. I might have to make a few really hard choices. I’ll probably fight with the love of my life over some nonsense and almost lose him due to some sort of insecurity, baggage, or emotional damage I have. I’ll probably lose some friends and some loved ones. I might find out some terrible news or have a break down.

On the other hand, I’ll always make up with my love no matter what either of us say or go through. I’ll find out when I get my heart broken by a jerk, my best friend who I haven’t even noticed really before will turn out to be my soul mate. I’ll always get a happy ending that makes you feel good. I’ll always have someone to lean on and to take care of me if I just break down do to some sort of disaster. Nothing would be the end of the world. I’ll be surrounded by friends and always feel loved in the end. I’ll have perfect romantic dates that just give you those butterflies. I’ll have the dream wedding even if it wasn’t my original dream-it will exceed expectations. I’ll have so many good times and times when I laugh with my loved one or friends about everything or nothing at all. I’ll get random surprises that make my day. My life would turn out so fantastic that I would never change anything. I would live “happily ever after.” (342 words)

So Excited!!

                 I’m super duper excited for show choir this season! Our dessert concert is on Thursday and that starts our season. All of our three show choirs perform their entire shows for an audience of our friends and family in preparation for our competition season and then we get to eat delicious desserts afterwards!! Our first contest is Saturday at Linn Mar High School and I’m nervous but really excited at the same time. We have had a rough time getting our show together lately. We are a really talented group but we don’t really use our heads and perform to our greatest potential most of the time. Last night our director had to yell at us and tell us that he might pull us out of our first competition unless we got our act together and started using our heads and practicing and such. He told us that we needed to perform a miracle in the next 24 hours for us to change his mind. I think this scared us into shape.

                We had practice tonight and it went a lot better than last night. We talked less while rehearsing. Our band had clearly practiced and thing were meshing better. Our tech crew was wonderful (as always). We also had a pretty good time doing our costume change. Our costume change is extremely hard because we have to unzip a dress with a sticky zipper, take our shoes off, put a shirt on, but new shoes on, and the hardest part of it is putting our sparkly leggings on. We have these really cute leggings but they are quite tight and get caught on our tights while we put them on. They also have a stretch inner liner that gets out of place and makes it really hard to get the pants up high. Most of the time I am able to get on stage on time (not everybody can do that), but I either have my crotch hanging down because I couldn’t get the pants hiked up enough over my butt or I have a lot of ugly bunched liner around my ankles. It’s a doable change, but it’s just difficult. I’m confident we will get it down. We have practice tomorrow, a concert Thursday, and practice again on Friday so we will have plenty of rehearsal before our first contest. I’m totally ready to start the season and give my best performance at every contest we go to! Bring it on!! (413 words)