Entertainment

Sound, not size

Allie Caffey, entertainment writer| October 7, 2022

The KHS choirs put forth their best efforts while singing on and off the stage.

This year, the chorale, vocal jazz and acapella choirs at KHS face a dilemma: they’re short on members.

Mary Sears senior, is a member of vocal jazz. She was inspired to join the choir by her sister Sophia, who is in the a capella group. Sears saw joining the choir as a way of bonding with her.
“I’m having a lot of fun [and] I’m glad I [joined vocal jazz].” Sears also noticed there are fewer people in them than before. “In chorale right now there are ten people,” she said. “Last year there were 15 [people] and the year before that there were even more, so much so that it doesn’t actually qualify as an official class.” KHS decided to keep all three choirs running this year because there is a new teacher.

Freshman Rex Swoboda is a member of the Chorale. He says he admires the progress the members make as they practice for their concerts. He feels that the choir members don’t realize the quality of their hard work.

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I think there’s a lot of opportunity to advertise concerts, [and] a lot of opportunity to make sure that people know what we’re doing, that’ll have a positive impact.

— Andrew Gibb-Clark

“All the wonderful people, the wonderful finished product, it always makes everything sound perfect.” Swoboda said. “Even though [our singing] doesn’t sound great at the moment, [there will be] recordings of it and it doesn’t sound great from your perspective a lot of the time, but from [the perspective of] other people listening, it’ll sound wonderful.”

Jamie Hahn, senior, said she believes there is a way that the choir concerts can receive more attention. She said that she feels as though the choir isn’t often discussed throughout the school.

“When someone goes on the announcements [they] could mention that the choirs are performing tonight,’” she said. “I definitely think the choirs deserve a lot more attention. If you like to sing then you should definitely sign up for Chorale and try out for A Capella.”

Choir teacher Andrew Gibb-Clark says the thing he enjoys most about his job is seeing his students succeed.

“My favorite part about teaching in general is building relationships with students, getting to know them, [and] what motivates them,” Gibb-Clark said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity to advertise concerts, [and] a lot of opportunity to make sure that people know what we’re doing, that’ll have a positive impact.”

This year’s first choir concert is on October 17th.