The choir’s first performance under the direction of Mr. Andre Clark and Ms. Jennifer Alexander was held on Monday, Sept. 25 at Hope Presbyterian Church. The fall concert was held at an earlier date this year to create a relaxed concert experience. This year, the fall concert served as a preview for their performance at the homecoming game and upcoming concerts.

As opposed to the formal attire of dresses, pearls, and bowties that choir members had typically worn to concerts, students wore jeans and their new choir shirts for the fall concert to promote a more relaxing atmosphere. In past years, concerts were all treated as very formal events, but the new goal for the fall concert was to serve as an introduction to the new program.

“It was so much more calm and casual and the aura of it was so much more pleasant than the high-strung, more formal concerts we had last year,” Grace Green ‘20 said.

There was an exciting change seen at this year’s concert. In past years, only members of the Chamber Choir could perform with mixed male and female voice parts. Because the boys’ choir had to be during the same block as sub non-varsity women’s, Mr. Clark made the decision to combine the two groups to create the school’s first non-varsity mixed choir.

“It was my first concert so I didn’t know a lot of people would come and I was really happy,” Ali Mohsin ‘18 said. “I just enjoy singing, it’s one of my hobbies and it’s fun to learn it and it expresses yourself in a better way.”

The choice of music was critical for the concert to make sure every choir could prepare and produce the best sound possible by the night of the concert. Each group was given music to showcase their unique abilities as choirs.

“I felt like we were more prepared this year even though we didn’t have as much time; the songs were definitely showing us off,” Sejal Jain ‘20 said. “The varsity women [sang a] Spanish song and it was just so interesting [that] there were so many different styles.”

As an ongoing tradition, choir members performed The Lord Bless You and Keep You by Peter C. Lutkin at the end of the night. They also learned a five-part acapella song, Kaleidoscope Heart, by Sara Bareilles to perform at the end of the concert.

“Getting to sing with every single choir member at the end was so cool and it felt like we were all this big team and it didn’t matter what choir we were in,” Mary Skelley ‘21 said. “It felt like even though we were all new to the program that we mattered just as much.”

The choir’s next concert will be the Westwood Learning Community Choir Concert on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Round Rock ISD Performing Arts Center. Click here to listen to recordings from the concert.