“A choir is more than just voices joined in harmony; it is a family of souls connected through song.” -Konstantinos Matsouka.
6, 7, and 8th grade students at BGJHS are having their fall concert on October 24 to show off their hard work to friends and family.
Students practice for choir concerts by warming up. 7th grader Amy Lopez affirmed, “We practice on certain sections, so we get better and then we move on to different sections.” They practice on sections they are assigned to, but when they are done with their sections, they can work on sections they need help on.
Students get mentally prepared for their concert by doing extra practice at home, so they won’t mess up when it’s their concert time. 7th grader Zury Centeno affirmed, “I feel ready for the concert, and I feel better knowing that I know all the music.” Lopez also affirmed, “I feel prepared for the upcoming concert; something to make me feel better for the concert is practicing the music at home.”
Students have favorite practices that they like more; Zury Centeno’s favorite is Do Re Mi because they can get low and high. Centeno does not have a challenging practice; her most challenging thing for choir is when the teacher sings fast. Lopez doesn’t have a favorite practice but her most challenging practice is “Super Bubblegum.”
Ms. Cuzick chooses the songs based on skill level and songs that are diverse, like languages, represent different cultures, and are songs that students will enjoy. For 8th grade, she chooses harder songs, and for 6th, she chooses songs that aren’t as hard. She has a selection of songs that are in different languages, and before they sing, she has a couple of students come up to the microphone and tell the audience the song names and a bit of information. Some songs are more interactive, so Mrs. Cuzick has to take time to pick out the right songs for her different grades. (6th, 7th, 8th.)
How they choose solos is students try out to be a solo, and if they are good at singing the song, they will be chosen to do the solo and get to sing the song themselves with no one else singing with them. Doing a solo for the concert would be scary because they have to do it by themselves with everyone watching, so a lot of students don’t try out for it because they might have social anxiety or they don’t want people to hear their voice without anyone else singing, so a lot of students don’t try to do a solo; mostly it’s people who aren’t scared or nervous to do it and are confident with their voice.
