This spring, Studio Vocals showcased their hard work at multiple events, including the Princeton Jazz Festival on April 15, the National Jazz Festival on April 22, and the New Jersey State Jazz Festival on April 29. To accommodate the busy April schedule, Studio Vocals worked on a fast-paced schedule and held multiple practices every week to ensure that they performed their best in all of their events.

“We have a lot of dedication to making sure that a song is at the best it can be before a performance or a competition. If we need to go over a certain section repeatedly in order for it to be solid, we will,” said Ashley Chen ’23, a member of Studio Vocals.

Through their hard work and dedication, Studio Vocals were a key element to the jazz performances this month, and through these collaborations, they were given a bigger platform to perform.

“The plans are to give our studio vocalists more of a period to keep singing as Studio Band and Jazz Ensemble get deeper in the competition season and may or may not be using vocalists,” said PHS Band Director Joseph Bongiovi.

On top of practicing as a group, the members also rehearse independently. Their hard work allows them to feel confident on stage, a key aspect of an overall good performance.

“I rehearse a bunch by myself and learn the songs mostly by listening to recordings and singing along to instrumental recording tracks,” said Studio Vocals member Maggie Dooley ’24.

The group members focus a lot on the technical aspect of performing. To prepare for performances, they rehearsed with microphones beforehand. Being able to blend one’s voice and figure out the correct volume and tone to sing into the microphone can make or break one’s performance.

“For the competitions, we each have to sing with our own microphones. Although it was a bit scary at first, my ability to blend while on a microphone has definitely improved,” said Vivian Clayton ’24, another member of Studio Vocals.

While the vocalists initially used rehearsal tracks to learn their parts, the performances themselves were put on with a live rhythm section. To prepare for this, members of Studio Vocals rehearse multiple times with the Studio Band instrumentalists themselves in the time leading up to the performance.

“Our biggest strength is the fact that most vocal jazz groups don’t have a rhythm section that plays as well as ours. That allows us to have something solid in terms of tempo and harmony to harmonize with,” Bongiovi said.

From highlighting the songs played by the musicians to guiding them with the actual piece, members of Studio Vocals were a necessity for Princeton’s jazz festival.

In addition to the pressure that comes with having to learn multiple tracks, performing at a competition in and of itself comes with lots of nerves, so being comfortable on stage is one of the most important parts when performing and competing.

“Beyond getting the actual notes and rhythms right, our stage presence is hugely important. For the audience, and of course judges, a performance is much better when the singers are engaged with the music and their peers,” Clayton said.

For many, just being on stage makes them feel gratified. The culmination of one’s hard work with their group can feel very satisfying.

“After the crazy rehearsal schedules we have and all the hard work we put into our songs, it feels so good to see everything finally together on stage. Even if we don’t win first, being able to perform together is the most rewarding part,” Chen said.

While Dooley, Clayton, and the rest of the younger members will continue to grow as a group in Studio Vocals, others will soon have to depart from the group as they continue on their personal journey in college.

“It’s definitely a little sad that this is my last time doing it all. I’ve been doing Studio Vocals since freshman year, it’s been such a big part of my high school life and I can’t imagine not doing it. I’m going to miss the whole working up to competition feeling, the excitement, and the pride we all feel together when we’re done singing the most,” Chen said.