By: Morgan Kellogg

The Eisenhower choir sang beautifully in their Christmas concert this year, which took place on December 5, 2018 at 7p.m. The concert included middle and high school level choirs, which is grades sixth through eighth and ninth through twelfth, and the group, Fantasia, which is also ninth through twelfth. Each choir sang individually, and then came together as one to finish off the concert.

Preparation for the concert starts at the beginning of the year. Once the music is chosen, the choirs get right to work practicing away. This usually takes place in mid/late September. Choral director, Ms. McMonigal (Ms. Mc), talks about how she picks the music they sing. She said, “I typically take suggestions from students as well as look for music that is fun, educational, different, and something possibly never heard before. I also try to find music that challenges students to a new level.” If the songs she has selected have solos, she asks the classes if they would like to audition. If there are students that would like to audition, they do a run through of the song with each potential soloist. Ms. Mc then selects the soloist that she feels is the best fit for the solo, and the choir goes from there.

Before the concert, the choir gets called down during the day for rehearsal. Rehearsal is a time for all the choir classes to practice all together to see what finishing touches they need to put on the concert program, and what things they may need to change. After the choir has made the changes, they do a full run-through start to finish.

The middle school choir started the concert, followed by senior choir, who included some well-known songs such as, “Little Saint Nick” (by: The Beach Boys) and “I’ll be home for Christmas” (by: Bing Crosby).The group, Fantasia, also sang in the concert.

Fantasia is a group of high school choir students that comes to school early every Tuesday and Thursday morning to sing more complex songs. They sang the additional popular songs, “Mistletoe” (by: Justin Bieber) and “Baby its Cold Outside” (by: Frank Loesser), along with others. Fantasia also sings love songs to students for Valentine’s Day.

To finish off the concert, the middle school and high school joined together to sing the songs “Candle of Hope” (by: Douglas E. Wagner) and “O Holy Night” (by: Adolphe Adam). The Choir then exited with glowing candles while humming the tune of “O Holy Night.” Ms. Mc talked about how the concert went, when she said, “The concert was fantastic. Everyone did such a nice job. I am very proud of everyone and all their hard work and attention.” She also said she enjoys teaching the different grade levels, “The older the students, the more I expect out of them as far as complexity of music and responsibility. The young students I enjoy teaching because I am able to witness those moments when the “light bulb” comes on and they start to figure things out.” The choir enjoys singing at the annual Christmas concert, be sure to check them out at their concert in the spring.