The Jonathan Alder high school choir performed Feb. 25. According to participants that went to the concert, the concert went well.
Before each concert, choir teacher Nicholas Mayes has to choose the different music which can be difficult. Some choir concerts have a theme that goes along with the songs they are singing. Mayes says “It takes going through piles and piles and piles of music. And if you look around my room, it’s full of just different, you know, things filled with music. So, that’s the first one. Sometimes I pick a theme, sometimes I don’t. I pick music that tends to match things that we’re working on. Especially with younger groups.”
The choir concert was in two parts–the junior high choirs performed starting at 6:30, and then the high school choirs began at 7:30. The high school has four singing groups: symphonic choir, bass choir, treble choir, and The Harmoneers, which is the a capella group.
Getting ready for the concert takes up a lot of time for the choir kids. Sophomore Philip Chin says, “[To practice we have] countless days of just running through our music and making sure that we have our parts and just listening to our parts over and over again and just making sure that we know them for sure.”
Being the teacher to get the students to learn the songs is even more tricky. Mayes says, “ there’s 45 singers in [treble choir] so, that’s 45 voices, people that have to do the same thing at once.”
Practicing is not the only thing that is difficult about getting a choir concert ready. The administrative behind the scenes of it is pretty difficult, too. “Getting people placed on risers. Getting risers. Setting up the stage. Getting lights changed,” says Mayes. “Getting mics set up. Getting our mic and sound people trained before our first concert. Getting programs made. I mean, I make all of the programs myself.”
Since this concert was a mid-year concert, it did not have a theme, but they emphasized different topics like “Hadestown,” this year’s musical, and the Harmoneers show that they performed on February 21 as part of the International Championship of High School A capella. According to Mayes, the goal of the concert was to showcase their spring songs and shows.
All school year, the choir has three main concerts in addition to JamFest, the musical, and friend and family night and this concert was their mid-year concert so their second one.
According to Mayes, the mid-year concert is always the most stressful because of how fast everyone needs to get things done. The pieces of music that they performed at the concert they have had since January so they only had around two months to prepare their songs.
According to freshman Ruthie Sebestyen, the high school choir performed 15 songs in total. In every concert they aren’t without their flaws.
Mayes says “[If I could go back] I would have focused more on the details [in their singing/music]”
The next event for the music department is the musical, “Hadestown,” which takes place March 13-16.
