Tennessee Tech? More like Tennessee Hectic.

Yesterday felt like an eternity, but in a good, tiresome way.

My morning started out with hurrying out the door, scared I might have left something behind that I needed for the day. I had my Vocal Ensemble shirt on, blue jeans, as well as black boots (which the shoe choice I would come to regret later) for our morning performance. Once we got to the school, I walked over to the side doors that lead to the choir room, and greeted Mrs. Elliott. The bus was supposed to leave at 8:00 a.m., so I got to school early to make sure I wasn't late. I ran a couple longer-than-expected errands before finally making it on the bus.

Let me just tell you, Cookeville doesn't sound that far from Mt. Juliet, but it feels like forever and a day away when you are trying to be there at a certain time. The ride there mainly consisted of singing, laughing, as well as taking pictures with each other. Since we were running out of time and would not be able to warm up before our performance for the clinician, we did so on the bus. Choir doesn't get more choir-y than belting madrigals while crossing over speed bumps. Before we got off, the bus driver told us that she had been having a really rough time this year and our singing made her really happy.

It wasn't long after we made it off the bus we were being ushered inside to take the stage. They allowed us time to set up our formations and line up before we went in to sing. Naturally, being short, I was in the front in between Aislinn and Elisabeth, two fellow choir members. We sang two of our pieces for Dr. Judy Bowers: "Autumn" and "Now is the Month of Maying". Not gonna lie, I was kind of nervous about performing the pieces from memory and doing so with such a top-notch choir, but luckily I don't think it showed. We got some good and somewhat interesting feedback from her- "Don't dodo sing!". Afterwards, we listened to numerous other high school choirs sing before heading to lunch.

Lunch = Chick-fil-a, and boy was I EXCITED! For weeks I have been craving it, and it wasn't until now I finally had the chance to order some food from there. The line was super long, but worth it for sure. I grabbed my chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and Mountain Dew and walked over to where many of the other VE members were sitting. We had to pull up another square table just to have room! Here's a picture Marley took below during lunch:

TTU showcased their choirs before the true hard work began. By this point we were all tired, or at least I was, just from the trip up there and everything else that happened. Both the Chorale and Concert Choir were very impressive and it was cool to see some of our MJHS alumni on stage! Dr. Bowers directed and helped us learn two unfamiliar pieces before the Festival tonight. They were called "I Dream A World" and "Halleluyah". It was stressful and hard to stay awake at times; she was a strong believer in memorizing music quickly. If you were to ask me right now what the words to either of the songs I probably wouldn't be able to answer you, because I've already forgot them. There was a break in-between rehearsals, and we had one last one before the concert. The last one definitely went the best and the quickest, since we somewhat knew what we were doing by that point. One of the coolest parts of that rehearsal was singing the mass choir finale piece "Ukuthula", which means peace. It was such a powerful image in my mind to hear the passion and emotion within each singer's voice, paired with the visual of many of those present placing their arms out in front of them, palms up. Somebody there explained what that meant, but I don't exactly recall what they said. I think it was something about accepting that the worlds needs peace.

Dinner consisted of another favorite food of mine... PIZZA! We had about an hour of free time to eat, mess around, and prep for the concert. Pictured below is the group picture I got of most of us sitting together outside:

Matt also introduced us to a game called "Little Sally Walker"; it's a hilarious game if you haven't heard of it. Basically you form a circle and one person walks around in the circle for a while and picks someone. They did some type of dance move in front of them, and they have to mimic what the other person did. It was entertaining to say the least. The best part is when people you don't expect to get into it, do!

At around 7:00 p.m. he concert started, with Mt. Juliet being like the third or fourth choir to perform. Each choir not including the TTU ones performed one piece before the three mass choir pieces. I won't deny I may have zoned out a couple times. Nonetheless, all of the choirs did fabulous, and even the mass choir pieces went better than I expected. I may have messed up at least twelve times, but nobody seemed to notice with hundreds of people on stage! We ended the night with "Ukuthula" like I mentioned earlier, and that was a wrap. I was ready to go home. Aching feet, sweaty and gross. We were there for over twelve hours.

Mrs. Susan and Matt drove Vaughn and I home from there, We made a pit stop at a place called Cookout. Apparently it was CRAZY that I had never heard of it before! I got a Coke float, which I'm not sure why I thought that was a good idea at 10:00 at night. Matt showed us an SNL skit about doorbells, and we spent the whole ride back laughing. Both him and Mrs. Susan are hilarious! Vaughn was dropped off first, and I was dropped of at my friend Rachel's house for a birthday party sleepover. I didn't last very long before I was completely out and cozied up in my sleeping bag.

As crazy as yesterday was, I'm blessed to be the manager and be a part of this ensemble. I know it's a privilege, and I try not to flaunt it, but sometimes it honestly just feels unreal to be a part of something I've only seen my friends be in through the bus ride snapchats or watching them from the audience. Yesterday made me feel even closer to everyone in Vocal Ensemble, and have an even stronger appreciation for the work Mrs. Elliott does for us. I'm lucky to have friends who wait up on me at sleepovers, who don't start opening presents or anything until I get there, even if it's late.

Now, back to reality, and homework, normal sleep patterns, and not-so-fast food.

Love always,

Allison