Choir to present annual spring concert with “Surf’s Up”

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Photo by Shalu Kattuvelil

Sophomore Mia Nguyen sings “Good Vibrations” for the upcoming choir spring show.

Choir will be performing its annual spring show May 30 and June 1 in the auditorium at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5.

Choir director Rachel Forester said she sometimes coordinates the shows’ theme with trips the choir takes that year. This is the first year the show will have a beach theme to tie in with the spring trip to South Padre island.

“This is the first time we decided to look at the beach [theme] because I didn’t want do [a theme] I do over and over again,” Forester said. “I want to kind of stretch myself, too. It’s been difficult, but this one should be fun.”

Practice for the show began in April as soon as choir’s UIL competitions ended. The choir rehearses during class and will start practicing during block lunch and before/after school once choreography practice begins.

“Our spring concert is usually more fun and laid back because we’ve just been in the middle of all this UIL music which is classical music,” Forester said. “This gives us a chance to step back and have a fun time at the end. With student choreography [the performance is] really cool.”

The men’s, women’s and a mixed group choir and an ensemble each have two to three songs to perform. Then all the groups will do a finale number followed by Harmony’s performance. “Kockmo,” “Surfin U.S.A,” “Surfer Girl,” “Come Sail Away,” “Yellow Submarine,” and “Coconut” are some of the songs so far.

Belle Chanson junior Sonal Verma said the show is really special because it celebrates the hard work choir has put in throughout the year.

“This show is very different than previous concerts because the music is much more free and a lot of the techniques we’ve applied when singing UIL pieces aren’t applied to these songs,” Verma said. “There’s a lot more room for interpretation and having fun with the songs. ”

Seniors have the opportunity to audition for solos throughout the show in May. Forester said the solos are going to be interspersed through the show to have variety.

“Spring concert has a theme unlike other concerts,” Belle Chanson senior Lydia Thomas said. “The songs are more pop and less choral, so we have the change how we’ve sung for most of the year, which makes us more versatile as a choir.”

Forester said she wants the students to learn the music faster since last year choreography was practiced just a week before the show.

“With all the hard and challenging music we do in school, when we get to a concert like this, the rhythms are so difficult, complex, challenging,” Forester said. “We’ve already had to work on that. What I’m really gearing toward now is to really pull those rhythms tighter so our diction is tighter and the audience knows what they are saying.”

Forester said since the show utilizes 60s and 70s music, the dance style is not a set style. She also said having a beach theme for the first time has been difficult to pull together, because there has to be enough choral music to fill the show.

“I just want to see and take a lot of the concepts that we’ve used this year and keep them moving and have some energy and have fun in the show,” Forester said. “They’ve worked really hard this year and we’ve had a very successful year. I want them to celebrate that [with this show].”