After Action Review: Spring 2022 Annual Show

What happened?

  • Went well overall! Had two great shows
  • Dramatic difference in morale and energy from the Tuesday rehearsal before to Saturday performance
    • Had to hold the chorus accountable for not knowing tunes as well as they should…
  • Audience loved it
  • First rehearsal on risers was two Tuesdays before the concert
    • Sang in the main sanctuary on risers the Tuesday before
    • Had to do lots of riser shuffling to ensure everyone could hear okay on that prior Tuesday

What was supposed to happen?

  • Supposed to entertain (we did well on this)
  • Supposed to have a larger set
    • Most notably: Beep Beep, Boise Song, not cut a verse from Sweet Adeline
    • Didn’t get there with many of these songs being new to most of the Chordsmen. We also underestimated the time Beach Boys would require.
  • Supposed to show a variety of genres (we did well on this)
  • Supposed to shine a light on Chordsmen (we did well on this)

What went well?

  • The jokes went very well! Audience remarked that the levity was very welcome and needed
  • Everything we performed sounded good, rang lots of chords
    • Especially with the difficult singing space, we adapted well in a very short time period
  • Variety of the show went well. The set overall flowed great with a nice emotional roller coaster
  • Adaptation in the week leading up went well, we pulled things together nicely
  • Vocal technique improved a lot over time with the Chordsmen
    • Expectations and culture shifted to accommodate this
  • Introducing ourselves to the audience was wonderful, Chordsmen really enjoyed it

What could be improved?

  • Intermission would have been welcome (show ended up being roughly 1hr 45min)
  • Get into performance mode sooner
    • Only worked on performance category the rehearsal prior to the show
    • Need to do this one month in advance
  • Get on risers sooner than one/two rehearsals before
    • Need to do this one month in advance
  • Discussion: Should there be a required number of rehearsals attended to be able to perform?
  • We shouldn’t give sheet music unless we have tracks already
    • In the future we should shoot to have all tracks and sheets ready by rehearsal one. Set the expectations early.
  • Discussion: create a process for getting tracks and the getting tracks we’re happy with
  • Discussion: create a process for qualifying people to be on the risers
  • Discussion: section leaders should have songs known early so they can perform as a quartet if needed