SPOTLIGHT ON VIP’s

That’s right, it’s show choir time.

Like the characters on “Glee,” the wickedly kitschy new series on Fox, high school groups across the state will high-kick it up a notch in the next few weeks to prepare for the first round of show choir showdowns in January and February. Their budgets are big, their costumes are bold, and their routines are edgier than ever, thanks in part to the rise of YouTube. 

Choirs face a lot of pressure to be completely fresh and original, to really change the world with their moves. “Everybody’s trying to top everybody else.”   The VIP’s choreographer will return to Charleston the last weekend on January to help polish our show as we compete that next weekend February 6, in the Poca’s MusicFest.  The VIP’s will compete at 2:15 PM in the Great Hall of the Charleston Civic Center.  This year’s competition will be one of the toughest in recent years with 16 superb groups from Ohio and West Virginia.  Finals will begin at 8 PM for the top 6 groups.

“ ‘Glee’ has come out of the show choir cult,” a recent quote from the producers. “All the show does is take their stories and put them on the air.”  The show’s fans — they call themselves “Gleeks” — celebrate the way the show skewers the absurdities of high school life: the crushes, the pranks, the pressure from parents and coaches and friends. Those details, “Gleeks” say, are in perfect pitch.”

But real-life performers know it takes longer than a commercial break to stage the kind of routines that look simple on TV.  Choirs polish the same 15- to 20-minute program from August through the end of the competition season in March or April. Their routines usually follow a variation of the same six-song format: an upbeat opener, something in a contrasting style, a slower ballad, a small-group number (while the other singers change costumes), another small-group song (while the first singers change) and a splashy finale. And then, of course, the bow. That’s key. 

Because performers rehearse the same program all year long, the activity requires a singular dedication.  You’re singing and dancing at the same time and still have to maintain the same breath support at the end of the song.  People don’t know how hard that is.

Glee clubs in the early 20th century sang short songs known as “glees,” a term that has nothing to do with the mood of the song or its singers. As radio and TV caught on, glee clubs gave way to swing choirs, which adapted popular tunes for multiple voice parts.

A few high school groups near Indianapolis started to compete at various invitationals in the late ’60s, and the trend spread. The term “show choir” replaced “swing choir” in the ’80s.  The first show choirs in the Kanawha Valley began in the early 70’s and the first Swing Sing was held in 1974.

In addition to preparing for our show choir competition season the VIP’s also are preparing for All County Chorus and our All State Audition is February 8.