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Costumes for Pops ChoraleDate: September 20, 2012 by Gayle Middlestaedt  Views: 1435
We have a SATB group of between 45-50 singers -- probably 75% are older, but thankfully we're starting to get a few younger people. We're in South Orange County, California. We are NOT a show choir! Our style of music is primarily light tending toward jazz arrangements, with a heavy piece or two thrown in (mostly during the holidays.) Like most groups, we currently wear all black/2-piece (ladies wear rhinestone jewelry and men wear silver ties with their "Johnny Cash" outfits. We'd like to get something a little less formal for our spring shows, but it's not easy. Most of the styles shown by Southeastern Apparel and Stage Accents come only in black; Rivar's has more flexibility but leadtime is super-long for custom stuff and they tend to be too expensive. Can someone point me to a performance attire company that has good quality and a wide selection of outfits? I imagine that others have the same problem we have -- many of us would prefer not to show our upper arms to the world, so we need 3/4 sleeves for the ladies.
There have been suggestions of just letting all the ladies where "shades of blue" or "white tops of their choice" or "different color scarves" and I shudder to think of what that will look like. I believe it will diminish our professional look significantly. I'd like to see us do a solid color top with matching palazzo pants. Ideas anyone??
Would appreciate input from anyone who's been through this somewhat touchy ordeal.
Replies (7): Threaded | Chronological
John Howell on September 20, 2012 6:38pm
Gayle: When I directed a Sweet Adelines barbershop chorus I stayed as FAR away from this as possible. They found the best way was to appoint a (small) committee to make decisions and present the results.
When I did direct college show ensembles I left the design to professionals, paid or unpaid. And the more professional, the better the results. But they were groups that used dance and other movement, and that does dictate more than you need to worry about.
In no case do I recommend making it "vote-a-dress." That way lies hard feelings and perhaps chaos!
All the best,
John
John Howell on September 21, 2012 5:52pm
Colleagues: This is an addendum to my earlier response, and is rather off topic, but this is where the topic came up and I hope the moderators will permit this to go through.
A couple of people so far have written to the effect that "of course we are NOT a show choir!" as if that's necessarily a bad thing. And I'm wondering whether that's maybe a measure of how bad some folks feel that "show choir" has become as an identifying term, perhaps being identified with ensembles that are more dance company than vocal ensembles, and perhaps too often all-female because it's too much trouble finding boys or men who can move!
I'd just like to remind everyone that the Dean of American choral pop music, Fred Waring, built a fine reputation and a very fine choral ensemble on the concept that folk music, popular songs, and jazz-influenced music are an important and integral part of our own musical heritage, are well worth doiing in excellent and effective arrangements, and are well worth doing at the highest attainable artistic level. And he was absolutely right, and was every bit as much a perfectionist as someone like Robert Shaw (who was Waring's assistant at one point in his career).
I've directed several different entertainment ensembles at two different universities, after putting in a 20-year career in entertainment myself, and I also avoided using the term "show choir" because of the poor reputation associated with it. But why is that, and what can we do about it when our music education students continue to graduate with little experience or training in the entertainment arts because college faculties don't think they are important?
All the best,
John
on September 20, 2012 10:15pm
Hi Gayle,
Believe it or not, I have a similar situation. My chamber choir has two concerts a calender year--the fall is a sacred concert and men wear tuxes and women wear black concert dress. Spring is a secular, less formal concert and we have done many different things, attire-wise. Since we have 10-15 members for any given concert, we tend to encourage a more individual "look" and we are NOT a pop group by any means but I still want a bit of "fun" in the spring.
Usually, for spring, the men wear black dress pants and a colored dress shirt with no tie--my spring gift to them! The color of the shirt depends on our concert. I encourage the women to wear all black--and it could be our fall concert wear--with a splash of color. For a Brahms concert (Liebeslieder op.52 & Ziegundlieder) the men wore red or black dress shirts and the women wore all black with something red--I had red silk roses on hand if they didn't have anything--some had scarves or shawls or a red necklace. We used the red/black again last spring for a concert of Italian Madrigals and German Partsongs. For an all madrigal concert a few years ago, we wore pastels--men had the shirts and women had scarves which I bought in different colors but the same material from TJMaxx and Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory. They wore the scarves the way they wanted--and now my group owns them. We did Swingle Singers settings of Bach and Mozart and 21st century settings of Shakespeare and did "funky formal" black and white. For a concert of folksong settings, we used jewel tones for the men and I asked the women to find an ethnic/folky accessory--they had tartan sashes, a wreath of flowers crown, folk printed shawls--it turned out to be very fun! Next spring, we are doing an "operetta pastiche" and my plan is to be all in black with hats, scarves, shawls to change characters......that should be a blast!
We had the discussion early in our ensemble's existance and decided fall would always be the formal, sacred concert and spring the secular, less formal. I always ask for input because I like my singers ideas. And since we do something different every year and want to have our concert attire reflect it, I encourage it! But with a chamber choir, it works. I think having that many singers weight in is not the greatest idea.........too many cooks spoil the broth!
I think black palazzo pants--I LOVE black palazzo pants--and a colored top would look great. And........you could pick two or three colors and let them vote on the color........that gives them a bit of control.
Marie Grass Amenta, founder and music director
the Midwest Motet Society
on September 21, 2012 3:43am
Hi Gayle,
I am on the board of a community choir in NJ of 70 adults ranging in age from 18 to 86. We have a formal gown from Formal Fashions https://www.formalfashionsinc.com/ The men wear tuxes. Formal Fashions have a selection of tops that might work for your casual look. For our casual look, we have a Polo shirt with our logo on it and we wear black pants with the shirt. Unfortunately, in order to get the casual look approved, we went with black or white shirts. Originally, the men wore white and women wore the black. Now it's mixed. I didn't want to waste the time deciding on the color so we went black and white. For a splash of color, we wear flowers, scarves, pins, etc depending on the show. I would still like to go with a color but when you are dealing with so many people, everyone has their own opinion. We did go with a committee for the gowns and selected 3 choices and then let the gals in the choir decide. Majority ruled. You are always going to have some glas not liking the choice but there really is not anything you can do about it. Hope this is helpful.
on September 21, 2012 5:11am
I have been having the same problem with my ladies' chorale. I just discovered a company on line called:
They have a large variety of dresses, separates, pants, etc. They are reasonably priced as well. We are considering a 3/4 sleeve, V neck top they offer in a wide variety of fabrics. ( Cost from $35 to $45 for the top in sequin or glitter knit fabric but there are simpler fabric choices also.) They will even send a sample top and also send all the fabric swatches you want.
I cannot vouch for the quality as I haven't gotten one yet. But I would definitely check them out. The array of choices is big and the cost is reasonable.
We have also gotten tops from a chain of stores called "Dress Barn" that have worked well in the past. The only drawback is if you need another top and they are no longer available. With this large ordering house, you can get extra tops when new members join the group.
Hope this helps!
Catherine
on September 21, 2012 9:27am
Thanks, Catherine!
I appreciate your input (and that of all the other people who responded.) I wanted to give you a heads-up on the "glitter" issue. We purchased really pretty tops from Stage Accents. Got samples prior to purchase and we were happy with the look; they were fairly expensive -- $69, I think.) Long story short, we were told by one of our church venues that we could not perform there again unless we got rid of the glitter. The stuff just rains down on everything. We all washed them prior to wearing -- SEVERAL times. After washing, I took mine out in the yard and shook the heck out of it. Still the glitter continued to shed. It's two years later, and I can still see that glitter in the drains of the ladies room at the venue. We contacted Stage Accents and they took the tops back for a full refund/exchange and we ended up with black tops with sequins, which have worked out much better. Anyway, BEWARE OF GLITTER!!
Thanks, everyone!!
on September 21, 2012 5:26pm
Reasonably priced choir dresses in lots of different styles, colors, and lengths are at http://www.simcoformal.com . Our district has done business with them for years, as has my church. (Our HS choir gets dresses from them; the elementary choir has bought white tux shirts, red cummerbunds and ties there; my church group got our black dresses there.)
I totally concur that with that many singers in a group, the decision should be made by a few...a select few!
Donna
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