Serra Oral
Reporter
On December 15th, at 7:30 p.m., NCHS choir students will perform at New Canaan’s First Presbyterian Church, something they have been preparing for since September. The Madrigals, who rehearse with choir director David Gomez every Wednesday evening, will also be performing.
One of the most important things that they have studied in preparation for this concert is the ability to read music. “Mr. Gomez is teaching us how to read music,” said senior John Harness. He thinks the extra practice has paid off. “The better we read and understand [the music], the better our pieces will sound. We sound better this year then in all my four years at the high school.”
Mr. Gomez has been working individually with students during their required vocal lessons in addition to practicing in class. “In their vocal lesson, which they have every eight day rotation, the students get to work one on one with me,” he said. “Any questions they ask about the piece and any difficulty they are having on it are solved by the end of the lessons.”
Over the past four months the students have come together as a team, making their performance even stronger. “Outside of the classroom we are all different, but inside the classroom we put our differences aside and come together as one person,” John said. “If someone sings too loud, or sings a wrong note, it can make all of us mess up. One person is all it takes to make a bad choir, but we have overcome this with the help of our teacher.”
The main goal of this concert is to prepare their students for their trip over Christmas break to London, England for the London International Choral Festival. Here they will have the opportunity to compete with other choral assemblies from all around the world, as well as performing in the heart of one of the world’s most theatrical cities.
“For the festival we have learned pieces they expect us to know,” Mr. Gomez said. “We are going to be premiering them at the concert.” These songs include the “Coronation Anthem”, which has been sung at the coronation of every new king of England since King George II, and “A Trilogy of Innocence”, which is a musical setting of three poems by William Blake.
Mr. Gomez explains the “Coronation Anthem” is a required song in the festival, and every choral ensemble must come prepared to perform it. “A Trilogy of Innocence”, a contemporary piece, is not required and will be unique to the NCHS choir.
The Madrigals are going to sing three additional songs, which are, “Esto Les Bigo”, “Mata Del Anima Sola”, and “Ave Verum Corpus”. These songs are also going to be performed at the London International Choral Festival.
“All of them tend to come from a different background,” said senior choir student Stephanie Havens. “‘Ave Verum Corpus’ is a Mozart piece, which is classical music, and a lot of choirs know it, but ‘Mata Del Anima Sola’ is a traditional Venezuelan piece. It gives us uniqueness and provide us with different musical experience.”
The students are confident about the performance. “We know all of our words, we know the rhythm, now its just getting the musicality down and following our conductor,” Stephanie said.
More than anything, Mr. Gomez was thrilled to see the result of the work of the students. “Teaching and working with my students is one of the most important things in my life,” Mr. Gomez said. “I invest a lot of time and effort so it’s a very special moment for me to see it when it comes together.”
