It’s that time of the year…

Most would say that we are approaching the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year!”… well if you are a college student, you could say this time of the year is the WORST!! With the final projects and papers plus Holiday concerts and gigs, we are very busy people.

Personally, once this week is over I will be very happy. My Music History paper will be turned in and hopefully will be 20 pages of A! I am also excited for Thanksgiving next week, but currently I am in the middle of an all nighter… so you know how I feel.

In recent University Singers news, we had a successful Fall Concert in Sursa Hall here on campus and I am excited to be singing the Christmas Usuals!

That being said, I must now go back to work, but I would first like to invite you to the Holiday Choral Concert on December 6th! There are TWO shows and both are free! Hope to see you there! for more info choirs.iweb.bsu.edu

Happy Studying!

16 days until the Fall Concert…

and I’m excited!

Hello everyone! I am Adam Pearish. This is my third year with the Ball State University Singers, but my first year in the Glee Club and as Show Production Head. This is also my first cast blog entry! I cannot wait for you to join us Sunday, November 15th, in Sursa Hall. It’s definitely going to be a great show! If you have any questions about the show, check out the University Singers website.

This week has been crazy! As Show Head, I’ve been scrambling around to get everything set for the 1st annual fall Poster Blitz (if you don’t know what Poster Blitz is we take posters to various businesses here in Muncie). It’s such an exciting time to be in the cast because new publicity opportunities have come to the surface. I think the post cards we passed out during the Homecoming Parade were a huge hit! Now with posters in full color, I really think people will notice what’s going on.

Tomorrow is day two of Poster Blitzing! Yay!

Taking a toll

Swine flu … no words associated with pigs have ever been more frightening. Thank goodness we haven’t had to deal with an H1N1 outbreak within the group yet, but it is the first thing on everyone’s lips when we take a look at the amount of people not feeling well lately.

Almost half the group has had an identified illness and quite a few others have had one or two symptoms. I guess it’s time to get the Vitamin C coursing through our veins.

Stay healthy University Singers fans!

We are the Champions…. Of the World!!

So, to catch you all up, Ball State University Singers, once again, walk away from Homecoming with the Ashley Award! We basically own homecoming. I mean, let’s be honest.

We are working hard in rehearsals these days. We just finished up a choreography retreat with Maria Rivers. We got FOUR numbers done in a day and a half!! INSANE! I will admit, however, they looked pretty rough today when we went through them. I have faith we will get there. I am really excited to be performing next month. It can’t come any sooner. I really hope we get some performances soon. All of you choir directors, because I know basically EVERY director in Indiana is reading this blog, look out for your letters with our flyer in them! I am excited to get the show going and hopefully book some run-outs!

Bring it on!

Like a kid again

I’ve been thinking about homecoming and the events to come next week. They remind me of middle school. Tug-O-War, flag football (although in college they use real flags rather than old socks), an obstacle course, and a talent show. As a college student, these things don’t exactly scream “Saturday afternoon fun!” anymore.  Not to say that they aren’t fun activities, but I just think our “fun” repertoire might have expanded beyond these things at this point.

BUT before you go and call me Scrooge and ask me why I have to be such a fun killer, let me explain why I think Homecoming is still one of the best weeks of the school year.

The point is not the activities, the point is old fun with new friends. It’s a reason for 18-22 year olds to giggle like kids when they slip and fall and lose in Tug-O-War. It’s proving a point that college students can still be sober and do goofy, but safe things and have the time of their lives. More than anything, it’s an opportunity to compete with and against some of your best friends and get closer while acting like a kid, which I’m convinced people should do more often anyways.

I know that I am looking forward to Bed Races, possibly the most outlandish event all week, because it’s my chance to act like a fool in one of the Singers outfits. But more importantly I get to have old fashioned fun with some of my new best friends.

Sometimes we can get bogged down….

and then we read something like this and things seem a little better….

Today, I was on the phone with my mom complaining about how in my dorm I had to walk all the way down the hall everytime I wanted to use the bathroom. She reminded me that I did this same thing at home. MyLifeIsAverage.com

Singers and Sashes!….and of course CROWNS!

“If you like it then you shoulda’ put a crown on it!”

This past weekend, one of our new glee club members, Janelle Rosenbury, was crowned Miss Northeast 2010! As some of you may know, last year Ellen Bryan, now an alum of the cast, competed in the Miss Ohio Pageant and took 4th runner-up! She continued this year and just took the title of Miss Miami Valley. Janelle and Ellen will both compete in their respective state-level competitions Summer of 2010!

I know pageants are nothing new to girls of the glee club as we have had Miss Ball State in our cast a few times in our history, but it is fun to know these great girls and have been in the cast with them! I hope to support my fellow cast-mates this summer at both the Miss Ohio Pageant and the Miss Indiana Pageant. I suppose we will just have to see how much it costs!

I suppose I could re-introduce myself to the blogging world now that I have probably already written more than anyone will read. My name is Christopher Heinze, Chris to everyone outside of my family. I am a fourth year Music Education Student from Fort Wayne, Indiana. I am a singer-dancer in the glee club and also Outreach Production Chair this year! I am having so much fun with this year’s cast already and can’t wait for homecoming next week! Keep reading as we are bring you more bloggers and who knows what will happen this year that you will miss out on if you stop reading!!

PS- I just wanted to point out how clever the title of my blog actually was! Toddlers and Tiaras is a show on TLC… hence the Singers and Sashes! Love it much?

Ellen Bryan competes in the Evening Gown portion of the Miss Ohio Pageant last Summer.

Janelle's Victory Picture after being crowned Miss Northeast 2010!

Roadtrip Anyone?

Dear Readers of The Ball State University Singers Cast Blog,

We, The University Singers, are looking for places to perform! We want to reach out to new audiences and would enjoy traveling anywhere to do so! If you have any place at which we can perform, please contact us via the blogs, or you can email Chris Heinze, the Outreach Chair at cjheinze@bsu.edu, or Alan Alder, the Producer at alalder@bsu.edu!

Hope to hear from you!

It’s a New Year!

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Well sort of… It’s not January 1st, true, but it is the beginning of a new year for University Singers. I am excited to say that I am a new member of this stellar group for 2009.

A little introduction:

I sing bass in the glee club this year and I’ll also serve as Equipment Manager. I play the viola in the School of Music as a Music Technology major. Also, I play electric bass for worship band at New Life Presbyterian Church over in Yorktown and I’m from Goshen, IN.

Ok, now a little about the year so far and my impression of the group. To put things simply, the group is already tight. As a new member, I feel like I have been friends with the returning members for years.  To be honest, I was almost dumbfounded by how quickly we all “gelled.”  We get together to watch the new series “Glee” on TV and make Carter’s Hot Dog runs on the weekends together. And that’s just interaction OUTSIDE of rehearsal.

Inside rehearsal there is an intensely musical group of dancers (much better dancers than I am for sure!) that have already set a precedent of efficiency.  Foundation Days went incredibly smoothly and we choreographed several songs that, based reports from past members, are exceptionally clean for this time of year. So I must say, every audience has something to look forward to this year.

University Singers are back in action with more vim, vigor, and vitality than ever!

10 days to Spectacular 2009

I can’t believe how fast the year has flown by. This has been the fastest of all my years in University Singers, is that how it was for everyone else’s senior year I wonder? No Stefen, no time to get sentimental already, ten days, TEN DAYS!  I just want to briefly look back.

Who would of thought after 3 1/2 years in this cast you’d walk away with so much more than what you came with. A bigger heart, a more open mind, a greater understanding of what really matters most in life; so much more that I almost feel like I was oblivious to all of it for so long. 

My first year, I barely remember. I was introduced as this guy, this “soldier”, back from the Iraq war. So I played my part of a quiet, steady, and well disciplined individual.  None for the most part I really ever was before I went overseas. Just ask my close friends and they would agree I was a extremely crazy hopeless romantic. Continuing on, I came in half way through the year and there was so much to learn.  Names, faces, and intensive high energy dances. I learned it all in good time but I didn’t know what it meant to me. I knew the people, the smiling faces, and extremely outgoing personalities were me to a tee. I also remember, Adam Hendrickson took me out on my 21st birthday. One of the best, just hanging out having a brew experiences, of my life. Heck it just felt good to sit at the bar. That was the first semester I got all A’s and B’s, which helped lower my car insurance payments. Go State Farm! And lastly what I remember after that was circle where the seniors poured their hearts out to the group and I poured out just how happy I was to be back and in the group where I wanted to be the whole year while I was overseas.

I think this is enough for tonight’s post. I will continue on in my Singer’s journey story at a later time. Thanks for reading.