Nichole Nizzardo, Reporter
@NNizz_courant
The weather is getting colder but the spirit was still warm when the NCHS Choir Performed their annual winter concert on December 14. The sense of community that fills the program is reflected in the hard work that goes into planning and performing the choir event.
The music selection is chosen a year in advance to ensure the Choir is ready for the event. “We have challenging music and we have a lot of it so we’re going to be right down to the wire,” Choir Director Sarah Gleason said. “You always have to put your best foot forward.”
At the heart of the program, it’s the people who create a talented and positive atmosphere.“I just wanted the students to have a place to be musically safe and grow their voice,” Ms. Gleason said. “Choir is a community that helps people from all different interests come together to create something beautiful. This togetherness helps the team to create beautiful music.”
“It’s the people who create a talented and positive atmosphere”
Choir Director Sarah Gleason
The seniors act as mentors; they take the new students under their wing since they will be passing the program down to the younger members. “The program will dearly miss their seniors,” Ms. Gleason said.
The mentor program helps to foster and grow bonds within the students leaving them as more than just classmates. “I have been both mentor and mentored, which are experiences which I will take with me forever,” sophomore Henry Tate said. “During my first year in choir my mentor was a senior, and he and I continued to be friends even after he went to college. Everyone in choir forms really close relationships with their rehearsal partners and mentors.”
The New Canaan choir program sets the example for other classes to be like a community, an atmosphere Ms. Gleason heavily encourages. “Choir is a word that means different things to other people. We constantly try to be a community that touches on everything,” she said. “We all come together with this love of music.”
The concerts are only half of what the program represents; it offers sanctuary to many different people bringing them together to create bonds that will live on past high school. ”Choir is just as much about the community as the music,” Henry said. “Anyone with a passion for music will undoubtedly enjoy coming together to sing in unison, and in a safe and supportive environment.”
