By Kate Townsend ‘28
Good morning!!! We started our day off with some lovely hotel breakfast and conversation with some locals - most notably, the owner of a Barbeque sauce company(?)! The Cornell Chorus is a very social group of gals :) Then, it was off to the bus for a nice long travel day.
Early in our trip, we made a stop at the ICONIC buc-ee’s!!! It was many chorister’s first times at this bucket list location, so everyone had tons of fun exploring. After much brisket and many mini beaver’s purchased (I finally got a t-shirt!!! - pictured below), we hopped back on the bus to continue the journey to NOLA.
Back on the bus, we all locked in for a quick bus rehearsal. This included going over notes/problem spots from the previous concert, reviewing our collaboration song for later this evening (classic barbershop anthem “Keep the Whole World Singing”), and surprisingly, an April fools joke by our director Doctor Lerangis and our president Sydney Pho. As you may be able to see (in the image below), we were taught a song with the lyrics “the coconut nut is a great big nut, if you eat too much, you’ll get very fat”. I have to say, the execution was a 10/10, and it took us all far too long to realize we would not in fact be performing this in the evening. Also pictured below is one of the TV screens on which we watched the cult classic, Kung Fu Panda.
Soon it was lunchtime, and we stopped at a mall for some fun and food. I had my personal favorite Raising Canes Chicked (yum!) and enjoyed a fun wander through some of the shops.
After a few naps and the rest of Kung Fu Panda, we arrived at our performance location for the evening! We all changed into concert attire, played some games, made some beautiful art, and then it was time for rehearsal. We reviewed and sang a bit to prepare for the evening and then got to watch NOLA Vox (our collaboration group) go over some of their repertoire.
Then, in a flash, the concert came and went - a great success!!! The crowd was fantastic, and it was such a joy to hear and sing for the other, super talented group. Vibes were very high as we headed to a restaurant to socialize with our collaborators and relax for the evening. The barbacoa tacos were to die for, and I learned tons about barbershop music from Beth and Eileen, two of NOLA Vox’s incredibly sweet baritone singers.
Before bed, I took a quick wander around with some friends to acquaint ourselves with this beautiful city - and left behind some promotional chalk art as well! We met sweet dogs and even sweeter humans that night, and then wrapped up the evening by heading back to the hotel for some much needed rest. Yay Tour!!!