The Concert Chorale's Barso Re

The night of October 26th, the Concert Chorale, along with several other ensembles, performed at the Meet the Music Department Concert. During this event, the Chorale sang Barso Re, a Hindu piece written by A.R. Rahman and arranged by Ethan Sperry. The song was used in a film titled Guru, and if translated into english, “Barso Re” means “Let It Rain.” A.R. Rahman may also be credited as the writer of the song “Jai Ho,” a Hindu piece heard in the major motion picture, Slumdog Millionaire. While at first glance, the group did a fine job executing the piece effectively, a deeper look at the performance and the music allows certain critiques to be made.
Starting off with the positive aspects of the piece, the bases were rather impressive throughout the entirety of the song, keeping time and …show more content…
Overall, the dynamics were rather weak in the song filled with notes on how the piece should be sung. The tendency was for the chorus to sing the softs too loud, and the louds not loud enough. For example, in measures 15-17, the crescendo needed to be more dramatic. However, because it started off too high in volume, there was not much room for growth. Another example would be found in measures 57-64. Although, it was previously mentioned the blend was great in this section, it was not piano at all. In fact, the ensemble was almost singing it as if it were to be sung forte, which resulted in the ad lib over the chorus to barely be heard. Dynamics were an issue in some cases during the performance, but so were the accenting of notes. The arranger, Ethan Sperry, provided a number of accents in the piece to give it a drumming feel. This was lost, though, when the chorale sang in front of the audience at the concert. If the group was doing it, they needed to emphasize more on that, even though it might have seemed