The Choir is showcasing their skills at various events and occasions.
“I love getting to know my students, it feels like we’re a little family,” said Karen Dolezal, choir teacher.
According to ChorusAmerica, a leadership program that advocates for young singers and choruses, singing in choir provides a sense of real belonging, offers new opportunities for learning, encourages student engagement, and promotes civic engagement.
Along with this, students learn vocal tips and tricks to improve their singing. Choir sings for many community events and businesses around Cave Creek, such as singing for local Alzheimer’s patients and at an event for Bell Road Toyota over the winter holidays.
They’ve also performed and volunteered for a Renaissance Fair that a local church put on.
Besides meeting in class everyday, students often meet at lunch for extra practice and instruction.
Currently, they are preparing for their concert on March 8th, in which they will be performing alongside the band class.
To prepare, the class often practices in the hallways to sing in order to hear the echoes of their voices and sound like a full, professional choir. In addition, students often repeatedly sing their songs as much as they can in order to get them as perfect as possible.
To complement the concert, a few choir students made the audition-based regional choir and the club attended that ceremony in Flagstaff on February 18th.
Choir also has one more concert in May, they will also be singing at senior graduation. The choir also plans to do more local events, such as singing at SaddleCreek Coffee, and they try to get out in the community as much as they can. Along with getting out in the community, they have performed at every pep rally that has been held at the school.
Choir finds that it is important to the students to sing for local events for practice purposes and to benefit the community.
“I love getting to perform because we know the songs well, we get to show what we’ve learned in the past few months, and we get to make people happy,” said Jacob Rollins, a junior.
In the beginning of each class day, the club does these things called “WFLE’s”, which stands for “What You Feel Like Expressing”. It’s usually just a sentence or two just expressing how the students are feeling.
It’s a great connection tool for the students and creates a large community feel. It is important to Dolezal to create a sense of community and belonging in choir
“I love being with a group of people who love singing just as much as I do and singing our hearts out,” said Vivian Carden, a junior.
Students are encouraged to join choir, but it’s important to know that it’s not just a club and is an actual elective class.
Choir teaches students valuable and important life skills to prepare them for the future while doing something they are passionate about.