Shakespeare in Song

Shakespeare is a name known throughout the world for his amazing use in language (a fact that anyone who can read this has had drilled into their head). On the 26th and 27th the Chamber Singers paid homage to him with their Shakespeare in Song (more can be found out about them at their webpage: http://www.utdallas.edu/ah/programs/arts/musi/chambersingers.html ). Done in two acts, it showcased several of the pieces either in Shakespeare’s work, or inspired by it. This performance report is over their first performance, on March 26th at 8:00 PM

The actual performance consisted of seventeen classical pieces of music, all done by vocalists and a piano. The songs themselves had multitudes of differences’ within these boundaries however. Some of the songs had a soloist singing (though, none were acapella), some involved the entire choir. Some songs had the voice groups singing the same lyrics, some had them singing different lyrics. The piano, the real consistency throughout the performance, changed its texture to match the piece. If the song involved a soloist, the piano was played with a small texture. If it involved the entire choir, the piano had an extremely thick texture. Before, and sometimes after, there were also spoken lines from the play that the song originated from.

Throughout the performance, the performers kept a constant, stoic stance throughout the performance; unless their turn to do some form of solo or spoken dialog came up. Very little motion was made through the performers to try and give any form of cue or non-verbal conversation (short of the director), though there was a semi-constant movement back and forth from them (a product, potentially, of it being the first day). They also wore costumes as though they were performers in the pieces (Disregarding the fact that there were no female performers in Shakespeare’s time period. At least ones that openly displayed that fact). Though there were a few slip-ups in the performance, they managed to come out of their first performance without any hitches.

Even though the performance was free, there was a surprising lack of people attending despite being free to attend (a little less than half the chairs were filled), and most of the viewers were students. There were a few people there on dates, as well as a few parents/grandparents and a child. Of the students there, many of them appeared to be taking notes of the performance, though there were several that were strictly watching. Multiples of the watchers were from the older Chamber Singers group, and were there to give support to the new group.

The later time played a notable factor in the performance, as being after the days classes meant that there were more students able to attend. However, and more likely a bigger factor, was the day of the performance. Due to being on Friday, many of the potential viewers were more than likely out doing something else, instead of being there for the performance. Due to the composition of attendees, there was a fair amount of applause the times that the Chamber Singers left, and entered, the stage.

Despite keeping to the same type of music throughout the performance, the variety within the pieces helped keep the performance together. They had very few times were the music was similar enough to be noticeable (the pieces that were similar were also placed far apart), and they kept the pacing through the use of singing and reciting the lines from the plays. Giving a little bit more back-story into the context of which the songs would be performed.