Students pile into the chorus classroom and walk up to the four-row risers to begin working on vocal warm ups. Students sing their songs, in sections by measure and work on their vocals afterwards.
The chorus program allows students to enjoy the art of singing and performance in a learning environment that develops their musical talents.
“Everyone understands everyone is different,” sophomore Adriana Ayala-Otero said. “We are okay and accept each other and nobody judges each other.”
Choir students perform at the Veterans’ concert, Winter concert, and a spring showcase, as well as off-campus performances.
“Students in chorus have the opportunity to perform in a variety of venues; most students favorites are the Disney performances,” chorus teacher Abigail Noble said. “When the students perform, it’s really fun because we feed off each other’s energy. When I look at them expressing the music, it makes me enjoy it too. I love seeing them when they are 100 percent engaged.”
In Concert Choir and Advanced Women’s Choir, chorus students perform in front of audiences at different Disney parks and hotels. Performances include the Candlelight Processional, singing at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and singing in the dome at EPCOT. In addition to the benefit of singing to a line audience, these performances add revenue to the chorus program.
“My favorite performance of the year was Atmospheres because we went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge Hotel and went caroling,” Ayala-Otero said.
Students also perform to Musical Performance Assessments multiple times during the year to perform the music they learned in front of judges to assess their performances. On April 29, Advanced Women’s choir and Concert choir competed at state-level MPA. Both choirs achieved overall superiors.
“The MPA performances were the best of the year,” Noble said. “Both groups came together and expressed the music very well. Concert choir made one of the judges cry while performing. They really took the music off the page.”
As chorus students progress throughout their years, one may get the opportunity to do solos in different shows.
“Chorus gives me the opportunity to get better and perform solos and develop my stage performance,” senior David Reiss said.
In addition to the opportunity to perform, seniors also have the chance to lead their peers.
“Chorus has taught me how to be a leader musically [because] a lot of the girls are sophomores and they haven’t had [as much] exposure to music. It’s taught me how to step up and not get frustrated when people are not at the same learning pace as I am at. Chorus has also taught me skills with leadership and organization,” senior Callie Emery said.
Whether students join chorus to passionately pursue singing or take it as a less stressful class in a schedule full of academics, one learns the art of vocal performance and working as a team to meet a common achievement.
“Chorus allows [students] to grow in a safe place in a very social environment. Everyone is working on a goal with a team and once it comes together, it changes students’ lives,” Noble said.