Charlie Dorf
Reporter
A year ago, the NCHS Madrigal choir visited South Africa for two weeks, where they visited the Eukangala School. Here, where they viewed a concert by the school’s choir that had no instrument and had a student conductor. However, their performance was not only phenomenal, but moving for several NCHS students.
Upon returning to NCHS, then senior Olivia Costigan formed NC Sound, a student-run acapela singing group dedicated to raising money for the Eukangala School. The main facet of the group is that they sing music that the singers themselves want to sing. Current seniors Jelani Alladin, Nick Larson, and Charlotte Fager also voyaged to South Africa with the Madrigal choir, and joined Olivia in the formation of the group last year.
NC Sound became a forum for musical choice, the group’s music selection process mirrors their desire for a greater level of freedom. “Charlotte will propose songs, and if the group likes a song, then we sing it,” said Jelani.
The group is also open to all who wish to join.“Even if you’re not that great at singing, there’s still always a place for you,” said Jelani.
So far, the club has already preformed at an ABC fundraiser, several Christmas parties, as well as the Holiday Stroll in town. “Our ultimate goal is to put together a concert,” Nick said, hoping to set up a fundraising concert devoted to acapela music.
Charlotte, also one of the initial creators of NC Sound, was happy about the large amount of students, particularly freshman, who signed up at this year‘s club fair. “It took a while to get started, but it really took off this year,” she said. “The great number of freshman, as well as sophomores and juniors, helped put out the fear that NC Sound would die out after this year. We have a lot of juniors who can take over next year, as well as a lot of freshman to keep it going for several more years.”
Jelani was also impressed with the large turn-out at each rehearsal.“There’s always a solid fifteen to twenty people at every practice, which is great to see,” he said.
Junior Ryan Stiffelman, a member of NC Sound since its inception as well, is an avid fan of acapela, and enjoys the range of music the group covers. “Our usual repertoire ranges from traditional acapela to contemporary music. We sing anything you can make an acapela arrangement out of,” Ryan said.
Most of all, the group wants to exhibit an environment of greater freedom and choice than the traditional school-run choir. “We wanted to create a student-run singing group I order give us more freedom as musicians,” said Nick.
