Cougars Hit the Right Notes at Chorus Concert

Throughout the first quarter of the school year, the chorus classes at Charlotte Catholic have been preparing for their annual fall concert, which took place Tuesday, October 21.

At Charlotte Catholic, students of each grade have the opportunity to participate in a choral group, beginning with the introductory ensemble, and progressing into more advanced levels. Each group gets to showcase its hard work, dedication, and musical growth at the concerts. 

The concert opened with the Freshman Chorus Ensemble, who performed the songs “My Singing Bird” and “The Bat.” Next, the Sophomore Choral Ensemble sang “The Fiddler” and “The Owl, the Wind, and the Moon.” Hayden Fox, a member of the sophomore group, said that she thinks her group did very well. She especially enjoyed the incorporation of the wind noises in the background of the songs, which made the performance more atmospheric. 

Once the freshmen and sophomores performed, the advanced groups took the stage. First came the Men’s Honors Ensemble, followed by the Women’s Honors Ensemble, and finally, co-ed Honors Concert Choir. Students who join an honors-level group must be approved by the choral director, Evan Corey. The student also must complete an entry-level course. One junior in the co-ed honors concert choir, Afton Williams said, “I am glad to have started chorus early so that I now can be a part of the honors.”

To execute a successful concert, the choir must devote time to prepare and rehearse. For their daily practices, students begin with vocal warm-ups, then they review the pieces of music and adjust accordingly. Sophomore Charlotte Carroll said, “When we are singing, Mr. Corey will often stop us when we mess up, and we will repeat the section until it improves.” On the day before the concert, students rehearsed their songs on the risers, which helped them visualize the performance environment and get a feel of how the concert would play out.

After wrapping-up a successful fall concert, the chorus groups have returned to their routine practices and started rehearsing their newly-assigned Christmas songs for the highly anticipated winter concert, scheduled for the end of December, and the students are eager to work hard until then to make the winter concert even better than the fall performance.

Credit: Google