On April 17, students from Select Choirs, Chamber Singers, Bel Canto Treble Choir, and Show Choir performed at Disney Springs. The trip brought together multiple choirs from the school, giving students the opportunity to perform outside of a traditional school setting and showcase their work in a public environment.
When the students arrived at Disney on Wednesday night, they checked into the hotel for the night. On Thursday, students had a free day to go to the pool or shop around in Disney Springs. Then, students went to the Imagination Campus to perform at Disney Springs before they went to dinner at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. On Friday, the singers participated in a leadership workshop in Hollywood studios, which then started their opportunity to use a three-day park hopper pass across all Disney parks.
“The students have been asking about Disney for the last several years,” said Bel Canto and Show Choir Director Bridget Faulk. “Timing wasn’t quite right, coming off of COVID. But we felt like this year we had enough organization because you have to really plan it a whole year in advance. You can’t just decide you’re going to go to Disney. Whereas the other trips it’s a little bit more casual on the planning. So, we started planning this over a year ago with Schierer [Chambers Director] and I and decided this was a group to do it with.”
One of the three select groups that went on the trip is the Bel Canto Treble Choir, an all-women’s select choir featuring sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
“Bel Canto is a select choir of all women, so there is only two vocal parts that we focus on,” said Bel Canto Vice-President and Show Choir student, Ashley Lovas. “It is very different because there are no boys, it’s only soprano and alto, so some people have to sing tenor. We had to adapt to singing without any guys. It’s very different because there’s not many all-women choirs at schools. You see many select choirs of full choirs, but ours is just alto and soprano.”
Show Choir, another select group that was involved in the performance at Disney, is a select choir of both boys and girls.
“Show Choir is a select group of both singers and dancers, and that means we come from different backgrounds. You have the group of kids who are also in theatre, the group of kids who play football, some people who do competitive dance,” said Show Choir President and Chamber Singers student, Lanna Haines. “Half of the work that we do is community service. We take our performances to all types of places during the year, which include nursing homes, soup kitchens, and women’s and children’s shelters. So, we basically just try to perform in order to make people happy, and that’s our service. We try to bring smiles to people’s faces through our music and our love for what we do.”
The last choir that went to Disney was Chamber Singers, a select group of boys and girls who sing and perform for countless audiences.
“It’s a true community. It’s just a different family in each [select choir], and we all have our own passions and values that we bring to the table,” said Chamber Singers President and Show Choir student, Joey Brown.
On April 17, the select choirs’ performance included songs, Circle of Life, Seize the Day, Fixer Upper, You’re Welcome, and Friend Like Me.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing. As someone who wants to go into performing myself, it’s really cool to be able to put in your resume that you performed at Disney,” said Haines. “I think it gave us more exposure to what it feels like if you want to go into the professional world, or just what it feels like to perform in front of, like I said, an audience that’s coming from all different places and getting to just stop by and watch you as they walk and hopefully enjoy your performance.”
The students in the different choir groups started preparing in January to be ready for the performance in Disney Springs. They spent countless hours learning and rehearsing the various songs so that they could perform to the best of their ability.
“I feel like Mrs. Scheirer really pushes us to be better. She’s obviously a very talented teacher and knows her stuff,” said Chamber Singers Treasurer, Carter Kunicky. “I think her work ethic is the way she endows that on us. I think that’s very important on how we sound and I think it shows.”
Though it was not technically a competition, the select choirs still got the opportunity to receive a trophy in honor of their hard work and determination when it came to preparing for the performance.
“I think it was something that we worked towards a lot. I know Mrs. Faulk was really excited for this trip. We haven’t done it in a few years,” said Haines. “I think it meant that our work from the past few years paid off, and we got to have fun and perform in front of an audience that comes from all different types of places. And instead of competing, we just go to do it for us and have a good time.”
The students not only had a fun time throughout the Disney parks on the trip, but they were also able to impact the audience by showing their talent and ability to a group of people that had not yet heard of them.
“The impact goes far beyond just the students. Every time we perform, we’re just blessing the audience’s ears. They all love to hear us. I think that just shows from Disney,” said Brown. “We had just a ton of people watching us,and I didn’t see anybody leave before we were done. You know, they couldn’t get enough. They were just listening and just loving what they heard. And I think that’s how we influenced them. All heart; all fog.”
