Full assembly of all the choirs at the National Festival of Chorus. created a wonderful sound filling Carnegie Hall. Photos by Amanda Rice
By Alyssa Perez
The old joke about needing practice to perform at Carnegie Hall is actually true. The choir has been preparing for weeks to perform in the National Festival Chorus Concert. There were also two full days of rehearsals with the other choirs, prior to the concert on the third day. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun.
There is a special feeling as you look out into the beautiful hall, knowing that people will be seeing you there. It makes the singers work harder to try to be as beautiful in sound, as the hall is in architecture.
Weeks of practice and two days of rehearsals culminated in the final concert. Schools from around the country participated in this special event. Schools from California, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and New York, (and Passaic) all participated and sang in this concert.
This was the seventh year PHS participated in the National Festival Chorus.
PHS Concert Choir makes the marquee at Carnegie Hall.
The name and theme of the concert was “Children of Peace.” School choirs from around the country sang a variety of music ranging from a classical song from Handel’s Messiah, “And the Glory of the Lord,” to a gospel selection “I Sing Because I’m Happy.”
The rehearsals totaled about 12 intense hours. However, students came away from the trip having gained a new perspective on singing and performing as well as gaining a great amount of vocal technique.
Senior Ariana Martinez said, “It was truly special to sing with all those other schools. I learned a lot.”
As well as the musical gains, they also had a great time meeting students from all over the country and developed many new friendships. Seeing and understanding other people from around the country, how their choirs work together is the real theme of the show.
This trip gave the PHS Choir members a chance to see what other schools’ choirs were all about, and to learn and grow from finding out about the other schools’ musical experience.
Actually, learning and singing was really fun, but hey, being in NYC for a weekend is cool!
