All photos submitted by Anna Dietrich

Members of the Ambassadors returned from their Memphis trip, during which they participated in performances, workshops, and an A Cappella festival. Their weekend was meant to be filled with fun and learning, rather than the competition trip they typically take, all the while visiting sights in the city.

“We decided as a group not to compete this year. We wanted to focus on doing our best and ultimately choose what song types and choreography to focus on,” junior Anna Dietrich said. “It made us happier that way because we had no standards or criteria to meet, we simply got to achieve our own goals.”

Leaving at 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the group traveled all day and did not arrive until in Memphis 10 p.m. that night. Thursday gave them time to see some of the famous sights within the city.

“We went to the Rock and Soul Museum, Sun Records, and BB Kings Blues Club and it was incredible,” senior Jack Kennings said. “It was cool to see all the rich history in the city and of course the music. It was overall an incredible experience.”

Their first performance of the trip occurred on Friday at BriarCrest Christian School. The Ambassadors performed in front of two or three other groups as well as professional arranger Deke Sharon who happened to have arranged the version of “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel that they sang.

“We all got to sing on a huge stage with professional light effects and individual solo mics for all of us, giving us the ability to dance around,” Dietrich said. “We were all nervous because it wasn’t what we expected but we ended up sounding amazing. It went really well and we found out later that some people even put videos of us singing on Instagram.”

Saturday April 25 was the National A Cappella Convention held at BriarCrest. The Ambassadors spent all day at the Convention meeting schools from all over the country, performing songs and taking classes to learn how to improve their singing.

“The first workshop I went to was Healthy Female Belting which is when you sing with both your falsetto and chest voice. Then I went to Circle Singing and it’s basically when one person starts singing and then more and more people join in and you kind of create your own song,” freshman Lauren Bedell said. “Then all of the Ambassadors went to a workshop with a man who gave us great advice. He told us to have more emotion and the correct dynamics to use in each part of one of the songs we sang for him.”

Their final evening in Memphis finished with watching a showcase concert that consisted of four groups who were judged for first and second place awards. A group called Musàe gave a special performance to end the night. The Ambassadors were headed home at 7 a.m. the next morning.

“My favorite part is always singing for the random people we encounter and seeing the joy music brings to people,” Dietrich said. “We found some people from Australia and we asked to perform for them. They were so kind to us and one lady even reared up and got goosebumps from our singing. Little moments like that make me realize what this group is all about, which is bringing the joy of music to any people we can and try to benefit whatever community we are in.”