Sirens Interview Carolina

Partial Transcript: Okay, so what’s your name?
Carolina Rosas
What year are you?
I’m a sophomore
Um, when did you first start singing?
I started singing when I was.. Probably 3 or 4 years old.
Okay, so a long time, um, when was the first time you sang in front of an audience?
Um, when I was younger, I was a member of the Treble Chorus of New England, and I was probably in kindergarten or first grade.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes how and when she began singing.

Keywords: chorus; singing

Subjects: Choral singing; Treble Chorus of New England

Partial Transcript: Um, what made you want to join an a capella group when you got to Richmond?
I had always wanted to be in an a capella group. I was in one in high school, um, and then as soon as I came to Richmond and I saw the different a capella groups I knew right away that I wanted to be in one and just kind of have a family on campus but also having to do with music at the same time.
So what made you choose the sirens, and can you describe the audition process a little bit?
So, the audition process was, um, you come in, you kind of do all these exercises, um, we have them do scales, and then you sing an audition song, and then there’s a callback process and then you’re selected or not. Um, and I chose Sirens out of the three because it was an all girl’s group and I felt like it might be a little bit more cohesive of a group if it was all female.
Okay, um so how long have you been a member of the sirens?
I’ve been a member of the Sirens for two years now.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes how and why she joined The Sirens.

Keywords: acapella; audition; callback; cohesive; family; female; girls; music; selected

Subjects: A Cappella Singers; Female friendship

Partial Transcript: What are the weekly requirements of being in the Sirens?
So, for Sirens we meet three times a week for rehearsals, um each rehearsal is around two hours long, um and that’s kind of on a weekly basis but also outside of rehearsal we have to practice a lot, um, the songs that we’re working on and either arrange or um, some of us have, um, executive positions in sirens that we do also have during the week.
Do you vote on those exec positions?
Yes, we do.
Um, can you describe the atmosphere of a typical rehearsal?
Um, a typical rehearsal (laughs), it’s both a lot of hard work but also a good amount of bonding and fooling around, we’re all a really close group, so as much as we need a lot of time to get everything done, we do bond a lot during rehearsal and joke around.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes the weekly requirements of being a member of the group as well as the atmosphere of typical rehearsals, noting how close knit the group is.

Keywords: atmosphere; bonding; close; executive; joke; rehearsal; vote; work

Subjects: Female friendship; Music rehearsals; Voting

Partial Transcript: Um, what about the last rehearsal before like an important performance, does it get a little more serious?
It’s much more serious, it’s a lot more stressful we kind of just run through our whole setlist um, in front of mirrors and just kind of move a lot and see if we want to choreograph anything, so, it’s a lot more serious.
Um, how do you feel leading up to a performance?
I feel both nervous and supported. I feel supported because we’re a cohesive group, um, we’re always gonna help each other if we stumble during a song, we’re always gonna kind of save each other in that moment, but also nervous just because, I mean we always get stage fright to some extent.
Does that change when you’re actually performing?
I think, just being on stage with everyone and just like the amount of trust that we have in the group, um, it makes it much less nerve wracking when we’re actually on stage and just feeling the audience’s vibes as well, it helps calm nerves.
Um, have these feelings changed the more you have performed with the group, like as you’ve gotten more..
Yes, I mean just because.. Over time you become closer and bond closer with the girls so that trust even more so increases.
Um, how do you feel after a performance is over?
It’s always a really gratifying feeling, um, because we’ve accomplished so much and we’ve worked so hard on the songs and, I mean especially the spring concerts are extremely emotional at the end just because it’s our seniors’ last concert so there’s a lot of emotions and the whole wave of that that comes with it too.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes how the group tends to approach performances and the emotions experienced afterward.

Keywords: accomplished; bond; calm; choreograph; emotional; gratifying; nerves; nervous; serious; stage fright; stressful; supported; trust

Subjects: Stage fright

Partial Transcript: Um, what about the last rehearsal before like an important performance, does it get a little more serious?
It’s much more serious, it’s a lot more stressful we kind of just run through our whole setlist um, in front of mirrors and just kind of move a lot and see if we want to choreograph anything, so, it’s a lot more serious.
Um, how do you feel leading up to a performance?
I feel both nervous and supported. I feel supported because we’re a cohesive group, um, we’re always gonna help each other if we stumble during a song, we’re always gonna kind of save each other in that moment, but also nervous just because, I mean we always get stage fright to some extent.
Does that change when you’re actually performing?
I think, just being on stage with everyone and just like the amount of trust that we have in the group, um, it makes it much less nerve wracking when we’re actually on stage and just feeling the audience’s vibes as well, it helps calm nerves.
Um, have these feelings changed the more you have performed with the group, like as you’ve gotten more..
Yes, I mean just because.. Over time you become closer and bond closer with the girls so that trust even more so increases.
Um, how do you feel after a performance is over?
It’s always a really gratifying feeling, um, because we’ve accomplished so much and we’ve worked so hard on the songs and, I mean especially the spring concerts are extremely emotional at the end just because it’s our seniors’ last concert so there’s a lot of emotions and the whole wave of that that comes with it too.

Keywords: bond; calm; choreograph; cohesive; emotional; gratifying; performance; serious; stage fright; stressful; supported; trust

Subjects: Stage fright

Partial Transcript: Uh, do you discuss the outcome of the performance afterwards as a group?
Yes, we do, I mean we’ll always meet after the concert at some point, um, as like a get together like a celebration and we’ll usually talk about it anyway.
Um, do you tend to critique each other or like, the group as a whole?
Yes, during um rehearsals leading up to concerts there’s, we usually, we hold each other accountable a lot. If somebody messes up, um, during rehearsal we’ll always like raise our hand and we’ll tell each other on how to improve certain parts like different, um, vowels or sounds to make for certain notes.
Um, do you feel that members tend to receive criticism well?
For the most part yeah, I mean we’re all really supportive and no ones kind of bringing anyone down when we say anything, um, it’s always taken really well so.
Uh, what are some common critiques you tend to have for each other?
Just a lot of like dif- sing, singing on a different vowel or different sound that might sound better with the aesthetic of the song or if somebody’s off pitch we’ll usually fix that as well.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina discusses how the group critiques its members following a performance, describing the process as supportive and constructive.

Keywords: accountable; celebration; criticism; critique; group; outcome; performance; supportive

Subjects: Human performance and productivity

Partial Transcript: Uh, how do you feel your performances are typically received by your audiences?
I think our audiences really enjoy them, a lot of, um, our friends come and see them so it’s nice for our friends to be there supporting us and they really like to see like what we can do cause I know, um, a good amou- amount of my friends had never heard acapella or seen acapella so, it’s something new for them to see as well.
Uh, what type of audience do you usually draw?
Um, a good amount of friends and family and just a lot, a variety of people in the community you wouldn’t really expect likes to watch acapella to so it’s interesting to see them come out as well.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes how audiences tend to receive The Sirens' performances mentioning support from friends, family, and community members.

Keywords: audiences; community; enjoy; family; friends; interesting; new; supporting

Subjects: Artists and community

Partial Transcript: Um, do you charge an entrance fee for every performance?
Um, it depends on the performance, we usually do, um we just produced our second album, that- well since I’ve been here, so we needed money to pay for the album, um, but also we use the money that we make in concerts to pay for sound and lighting stuff usually.
That was my next question was what is the money used for?
Yeah, we put it towards sound and lights, mostly the sound and microphones with that.
Uh, does the university provide any funding at all?
Yes, we get SOBAC (Student Organization Budget and Appropriations Committee) funding, so.
And is that, um, universal across all the acapella groups get the same amount of funding?
No, so for the fun- for SOBAC funding you have to apply and each group applies and they get however much money depending on what SOBAC’s decision and reading their applications.
Okay, and is that through, like the University staff?
Yes, University of Richmond.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes where and how the group gets their funding as well as what it is used for.

Keywords: SOBAC; album; applications; apply; decision; fee; funding; money; produced; university

Subjects: Money (Musician)

Partial Transcript: Um, okay do you feel a different atmosphere when you are performing for only students versus for a mixture of, like, students, families, community members?
Um, I don’t think so, I think, it’s pretty universal across the board.
Um, do you do any private performances, like upon request?
Yes, um actually a lot of Sirens alum sometimes will host events and they’ll ask us to perform there, um which are always really fun cause it’s our alum, so.
Um, okay, just back to the critiques a little bit, I guess from the public pespecitve, what’s the best comment you’ve received following a performance? Or the best types I guess.
Um, I think just that we’ve become, in the past few years much.. Better, we’ve just become stronger we have more members now so just a stronger sound. So just that we keep improving and people really like to hear that, so.
Have you ever received a, a bad comment after a performance?
Um, if we have it’s just because of like sound difficulties and just like malfunctioning of microphones or the acoustics in a room sounding bad which then causes us to be off, so if anything it’s that.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina explains the atmosphere of a typical audience, private performances, and critiques received from the audience.

Keywords: alumni; atmosphere; community; difficulties; families; improving; malfunctioning; performances; private; stronger; students

Subjects: Arts audiences

Partial Transcript: Okay, um so you talked about this a little before with how close knit you guys are, but how would you describe the general atmosphere of the sirens as a group?
We’re very close, I think the best part of Sirens is that we are such a diverse group of girls, but we all get along so well just because we’re all different, we come from many different backgrounds, we’re very different types of people, but together we’re all such a close knit group, and we’re always kind of there for each other and we’re just all very close. We love spending time with each other.
Um, how would you describe, then, the general atmosphere of all acapella, not just the Sirens?
Um, all of acapella is actually very close we all are very supportive of, um each other’s groups we all attend each other’s concerts, um, we all hang out a lot over the weekends as well we’ll all hang out as a big acapella group so it’s kind of, each acapella group has their own family per say, but everyone is one huge acapella family.
Um, how do you feel the sirens interact with other females involved in acapella?
Um, it’s the same, we’re all very friendly with each other there’s no.
And the same with men then, there’s no..
Yeah, I mean, a lot of times the sirens and the octaves, which is all male acapella group will hang out, more so than, um, our groups with other groups just because the other groups are already coed but, the sirens and octaves hang out a lot, as well.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina talks about the general atmosphere of both The Sirens and UR a capella as a whole being very close knit and family like.

Keywords: atmosphere; backgrounds; close; concerts; different; diverse; family; females; friendly; love; males; supportive

Subjects: Diversity in higher education; Gender and diversity

Partial Transcript: Um, do you feel that the sirens have any special distinction from the other groups because you’re all women?
(Pause) I don’t think so, I think just being all women makes it special, and it is, um, I don’t know, I think just because we’re all girls it’s a little bit different, but..
Um, do you think that, that, girls choose the sirens because of the fact that they’re all women? Is that something that draws people?
I think it, to some extent it does, I think all of the groups are unique in their own aspects and everything, each group kind of brings its own, um, traits and characteristics, but, I think- I mean I chose Sirens, one of the reasons why I chose Sirens was definitely because it was all girls.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina discusses her feelings about The Sirens being an all female group.

Keywords: different; distinction; girls; special; unique; women

Subjects: Female (Musical group)

Partial Transcript: Um, okay.. uh, how do you guys choose which songs you’re going to sing?
Um, we do a voting process, so, um, we submit, like song ideas to our um, what’s it called, our head, like our president, um, and she then collects all of the songs and then we vote and then, whichever the most popular are then chosen, for our songs.
Okay do you have to, when you have performances where its multiple acapella groups at one thing, like the Christmas one for example, do you coordinate with the other groups on who’s singing what?
Yes, I believe there’s a google doc, where we put in what songs we’re singing so there’s no overlap.
Is it just first come first serve, like whoever..
Kind of, yeah.
Okay, so there’s no, like authoritative..
No, it’s usually the presidents that all discuss it, and usually it’s first come first serve.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes how members vote on which songs to sing in a democratic process and how song choice between acapella groups is first come first serve.

Keywords: choose; coordinate; discuss; overlap; popular; president; songs; voting

Subjects: Democracy and the arts

Partial Transcript: Uh, okay, does the university prohibit you from singing certain songs?
Not that I believe.
Is there anything, like curse words or offensive language and stuff?
I mean, sometimes we’ve had curse words but, depending on the audience, I know we did a song with a curse word in it and we kind of bleeped it out because we noticed that there were kids in the audience so we kinda, didn’t do that.
So there’s no university.. Like, rules?
I don’t believe so.
Are there any other parts that are controlled by the university? I know you said you get funding from them, but is there anything else that the university regulates?
Um, probably.. I mean we have like, bylaws so the university’s probably seen those, but not that I know of.
Okay, um.. How does it work with, like, your practice space, like do you just reserve rooms?
So, we reserve rooms through the university in, um, Booker Hall.
So it’s not like you have one, the same place the same time every week?
Not necessarily, I mean, if we’ve reserved a room, we use that room, every week, but if not we just kind of hop around rehearsal rooms.
Do you ever run into problems with that if there’s, like, none available?
Um, sometimes I mean we’ll usually find, like some space whether it be like a classroom or something in Booker as well.
Um, are there any, so if something were to happen that reflected negatively on the Sirens, are there any kind of repercussions that the university would have?
Um, I’m not sure about the university, cause we’ve never really run into a problem like that (laughs), so I don’t think we’ve ever had to.. Deal with something like that, but I mean, within Sirens there are, like certain repercussions for missing a number of rehearsals, and that kind of thing.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes how the group self regulates more than the university officially does and what kind of consequences inappropriate behavior may have.

Keywords: audience; bylaws; controlled; curse; kids; language; negatively; offensive; prohibit; repercussions; rules; university

Subjects: Administrative agencies--United States--Rules and practice; America--Languages

Partial Transcript: Okay, um, just a few last questions, for when you mentioned how you guys record an album, how does that process work within the group, does everyone get to sing a certain number of songs? Like how does it work?
Um, so, usually I mean our songs are all broken up by parts, um, not everybody on a certain part gets to record, usually its, um, upper classmen have priority just because they’re not gonna record an album within the next few years, because they’re graduating, um so, there will be around like one or two people per part per recording.
And again, with choosing who gets solos and chooses songs or whatever how does that work?
Um, so songs are just like group votes, and whichever songs get the most votes, um, for solos we have a huge process, um, every single person in the group auditions for a solo, um whether they can sing it or not (laughs), um, it definitely serves for entertainment for those that can’t sing high parts and they have to audition for the high parts, um, and then everybody writes down on a piece of paper, um, confidentially, who they think should get it. And then whoever has the most votes, um, and then if there’s no majority vote then, um, we have to discuss it without that person in the room- without those like, two contenders for example in the room and then it has to be a unanimous vote.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina talks about the voting process for songs and solos put on the group's album and the priority upperclassmen get when recording.

Keywords: album; auditions; graduating; group; priority; process; solos; unanimous

Subjects: Musical album

Partial Transcript: Okay so one last question, um, when you think of the Sirens as an acapella goup- group at the university of richmond what is the kind of image that you want people to have?
I want the university to see it as a group that’s just very close knit, um, a group of girls that’s diverse but has one love of music, um, and just a group of girls that has that love for music but also a love for each other and that close bond with it. And that we like to have fun cause we love it, we love what we do.
Well thank you, for your time.

Segment Synopsis: Carolina describes how she wants the public to view The Sirens as a group of diverse, close knit girls who share a love of music.

Keywords: bond; close; diverse; fun; image; love; music

Subjects: Friendship in art