A student passing by the fine arts hallway today will feel the vibrations of voices condescending from within the choir room alongside a light and fun piano melody in preparation for a performance at 7 p.m. May 11 in the Performing Arts Center (PAC). If this student were to pause and listen, they may pick out a variety of languages embedded within the folk songs from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Estonia, Latin America and Korea. Sophomore and women’s
choir member Jocelyn Heimsoth thinks this concert is a good way to
experience a variety of different cultures. “It’s really fun getting the opportunity of singing these songs because you feel like you’re singing
for them,” Heimsoth said. “When the audience listens, they can notice the different tones we sing for each song.”The foreign languages bring up even more challenges that already go into choir. The choir has
even brought in students that have studied the language to help them with their pronunciation. Each choir student finds their own individual difficulties with singing in a different language. “You have to make sure you’re pronouncing the words correctly,”Heimsoth said. “And if you don’t know the words in the song, it can be hard to get the rhythm down, and though you may think that you’re pronouncing it right, you’re probably not.” It’s definitely not a simple task to learn an
unfamiliar language in such a short amount of time. Some students spend years trying to learn foreign languages and still have trouble comprehending them. These choir students are expected to learn these
lines in just a few short months. “For some it is the basic pronunciation,” choir director Mike Pierson said.“For some it is singing with expression when you’re not totally comprehending the words you are singing.” Pierson said the decision to choose songs from different cultures was an attempt to draw the students’ and audience members’ attentions to music from a variety of different places that they wouldn’t normally think to listen too. The free show will also include a multimedia component that will keep the audience informed as the concert goes on about the music being performed.The different choirs will sing songs intertwined and will interact with the audience throughout the concert. Sometimes the choir will be spread out through the audience or on stage in front of the risers, and there’ll even be lighting effects and projections to make the concert that much more enjoyable. The choir has spent months preparing and are excited to show off all they’ve worked so hard on and how much they have
improved since their last performance. “This concert is also a great way to show your support and know what the choir program is really
like,” sophomore and men’s choir member Adam Vincent said.They are also excited for their seniors to have a nice send-off, as tonight’s concert will be their final one and will feature a mini reception afterwards in the cafeteria for audience members and singers to honor the seniors. The reception will include refreshments, awarding letters to all students 9-12 who qualified for a Letter in Vocal music this year,recognition of students who were selected to district and state ensembles and awarding of Senior Vocal Music Achievement
plaques and a senior slideshow. “This is the last concert of the year and last of their high school career for the seniors,” Pierson said. “The concert is filled with very entertaining and beautiful music that will be fun for the audience members to take in.” Because the show features other languages, performers walking through the crowd and the addition of multimedia elements playing through the duration of the show, it’s sure to stand out from the year’s previous performances. Senior and women’s choir member Sarah Merrifield has mixed feelings about how fast her final concert is coming up. “It’s stressful but
exciting,” Merrifield said. “It’s my last choir concert at RBHS so I’m enjoying every moment that I can.” As the concert grows near, the students reported they’re growing more and more restless, itching to
show their friends and families their months of hard work, to help share a piece of culture the audience won’t get anywhere else and celebrate the seniors and fellow choir members they’ve grown so close to throughout the year and over their choir careers at RBHS.
“This concert is also not just my concert,” Vincent said. “It is used to commemorate all of the seniors in our program that we have all come to know and love.”