Junior Vocal Major Marco Alvarade shared with me his experiences about the ever changing vocal department, balancing his school and personal life, and the recent vocal elective show, Revolution.

Specifically, Alvarade spoke on an incident that happened at pre-show rehearsals on day one of Revolution.

“So there’s two groups [of Echo, LVA’s Acapella Group]. There’s a B team. B team is a subgroup. I feel like they did way better than A team because [they were] so organized. They had so much flow,” said Alvarade.

He discussed the miscommunication between teams and showrunners during the rehearsals, “I was setting it a little too awkward, you know what I mean? So, and that’s partly because I thought someone was gonna lead me in,” said Alvarade.

“…it was just really embarrassing, because I was being arrogant… I thought I had everything under control. I thought it was all gonna be good, but my expectations were very subverted,” said Alvarade.

Alvarade mentioned how his team’s flow fell apart as they went, and he tried his best to get everything back on track and together.

He now looks back at this moment as a lesson, making sure that he keeps everything organized as team leader moving forward.

Although coining this moment as being “astronomically embarrassing,” he believes that he can move forward and be a better team member and leader from it. The rest of Revolution went swimmingly.

Alongside the rehearsals, Alvarade shared with me his experiences being a vocal major and changes he has noticed since previous vocal teachers’ departure.

Alvarade reflected on the current state of the vocal department, leaving a hopeful message.

“So far this year, it’s been a little rocky, but honestly, it’s something that I think all of us can handle, and it’s something that [makes] all of us strive to be better,” said Alvarade.