Southeastern’s Concert Choir of male and female music majors, sung songs about angels and demons at their Angels and Demons choir concert, as a part of their choir class. The concert choir and woman’s chorale each featured an instrument.
Annie Goodman/The Lion's Roar
At their concert Angels and Demons, Southeastern’s Concert Choir and Women’s Chorale added extra levels to their performance.
During “Only in Sleep,” performed by the Concert Choir, Sara Cage sang a solo that was favorably received.
“I thought that solo was just spectacular,” said Director of Choral Activities, Alissa Rowe. “That was the best she’d ever sung. It was amazing.”
For their song “Northern Lights,” the Concert Choir used water glasses and chimes for their accompaniment. This was the most difficult thing for the choir to pull together.
“Just trying to figure out how to do it, and then trying to not have your music and making sure the pitches were right,” said Rowe. “It was just a lot, and moving the glasses over here without breaking them, you know, all the little things, but it was great. They loved it.”
To make this performance possible, the students put in a lot of time and effort.
“Well, the first group meets four days a week for almost two hours, and this women’s group meets almost twice a week for two hours so four hours for the whole week,” said Rowe. “They’ve been working a lot.”
The majority of students in the Concert Choir and Women’s Chorale are vocal majors and are required to join a choir.
“They’re in a class and basically the only way I can grade them is on their attendance and concerts,” said Rowe. “We do usually two concerts a semester, and like I said, they sing better when there’s people here rather than when we’re just in class. That was kind of that. They’re all music majors, and as a voice major, they have to be in choir if they’re full time. We have a couple minors in the Women’s Chorale, but not in the Concert Choir.”
However, students do not have to be music majors to join the choirs.
Although the Concert Choir and Women’s Chorale are made up of many individual singers, they both sang with one voice.
“I loved the fact that we were breathing together and singing as one group and really in it together,” said Lauren Gibson, a senior music major with a concentration in vocal education. “The unity of it, of creating one sound and sending a message to the audience.”
As a graduating senior, Gibson was the undergraduate conductor for the Women’s Chorale and got to conduct “Angele Dei” by James Baas. Rachel Davis was the undergraduate conductor for the Concert Choir and conducted “Crucifixes” and “Angele Dei” by Susan Labarr.
Both choirs featured a student playing an instrument in one of their songs. The Concert Choir had Logan Pace play trumpet for their song “The Trumpet Sounds Within-A My Soul,” and the Women’s Chorale had Adrian Harabaru play cello for their song “O Magnum Mysterium.”
The Women’s Chorale ended the evening singing “Will the Circle be Unbroken” which featured a trio comprised of Hannah Turner, Elizabeth Langley and Claire Putnam. For this song, the girls came off the stage and formed a circle around the audience.
Gibson was awed with the performance and getting the opportunity to conduct.
“It was unbelievable,” said Gibson. “Music has the ability to bring forth so many emotions and unite so many people. It is just an indescribable feeling to be the one up there helping create that music and leading that group and it was just wonderful.”
