First Songs of the School Year By: McKaylee Thomas

Hillgrove’s choirs, Crimson Chorus the intermediate class, Camerata the mixed choir, Bella Voix the advanced women class, and Hawkapella the auditioned a capella group, on September 12th, 2024, at 7 pm at Hillgrove High School in the Joseph B. Boland Theater performed their Fall Concert.

Hillgrove’s chorus concert was the first of the year. Within the first six weeks of school, the choirs learned seven songs in total after coming back from summer break. Jackson Price, a junior at Hillgrove and a member of Crimson Chorus, Camerata, and Hawkapella, says, “It was a real fast turnaround, but we knew what we could do, and with all our new classmates, we just built up our confidence together...We knew we could do it.” Crimson Chorus sang two songs at this concert, and the favorite song for this choir was Bonse Aba. Bonse Aba is a traditional Zambian folk song that celebrates community. This upbeat song was a crowd favorite that featured drums and smiles.

This concert brought a challenge for students because of how fast students needed to learn the music. Haven Barry, a freshman in Crimson Chorus, talked about how the students learned the music so quickly. “We like, went off into sectionals sometimes, and that was really helpful, because then she (Ms. Manson) would like, tell us each individually what we had to do, and because we all had different times [in Bonse Aba], it was helpful...” This is what some students did in class, but others also worked on their music outside of class.

“When we were doing solfege in our music, I did that, and then I looked over the songs and, like, the parts I didn't know...I made sure I listened to my tracks if I needed to.” Ciara Grindstaff, a junior in Bella Voix and Hawkapella says. Rehearsal tracks help students learn music on their own. For the song Malakatumba, knowing this music was especially important because the body percussion was complicated and didn’t match with what different sections were singing. Students worked hard on this inside and outside of class to show their dedication to music, “So we practiced a little more and worked on actually knowing our parts better.” (Haven Barry)

Hillgrove’s Fall Chorus Concert was a success in making music together and sharing joyful messages though song.