By Saktisri Gowrishankar, Staff Reporter
The bright lights of the auditorium shine down on the middle school students visiting Conestoga as they perform in front of their parents. Conestoga choirs taught the younger students various songs for both the Treble and Bass days held on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5, respectively, so they could gain experience with the high school choirs.
Treble and Bass days are two days in which the T/E and Valley Forge Middle School choirs participate in an annual workshop led by Conestoga choirs. Treble Day is for sopranos and altos from sixth to eighth grade, and Bass Day is for tenors and bases from fifth to eighth grade.
The event, originally called Guys Harmonize, began in 2007 and was meant to encourage boys to continue singing but now is for all young singers. Christine Gyza, the T/E Middle School choir director, hopes her students gained an interest in Conestoga’s music program through the experience.
“I hope that (the middle school students) gain a sense of direction for the choral program for the school district. I hope that they gain a sense of excitement for the program so that, hopefully, they continue all the way until they’re in high school and enjoying it,” Gyza said. “I want them to enjoy this day. It should be a fun day. It should be a day that they feel is enjoyable, and that they would want to come back and do it again next year.”
At Treble Day, the soprano and alto juniors and seniors in Camerata, an auditioned group, taught the middle school students three songs: “Mean” by Taylor Swift, “Never One Thing” arranged by Corie Brown and “Crowded Table” arranged by Andrea Ramsey.
During Bass Day, the tenor and bass juniors and seniors taught the students “In the Still of the Night” by The Five Satins, “You’ll Be Back” by Jonathan Groff and the original cast of “Hamilton” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver. Gyza said one of the highlights of the workshop is catching up with past students.
“Another favorite part is just seeing my girls that I work with on a regular basis have a really nice day and enjoy themselves. And the boys too — just seeing them all enjoy themselves and have a great time singing and bonding over this experience,” Gyza said.
The choir students learned the songs in a few hours, ate lunch provided by the Tredyffrin-Easttown Music Parents Organization and performed for their parents and other Conestoga music students at the end of the field trip.
Along with the performances by the middle schoolers, the two high school acapella groups, Bases Loaded and Pitches Please, each sang one song. Pitches Please sang “Reflection” from Mulan and Bases Loaded sang “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire. Senior Ava Bruni, the president of alto and soprano group Pitches Please, became interested in high school choir because of her own experience at Treble Day.
“When I did it, I thought it was so cool. Honestly, it made me want to do choir in high school because everyone loved singing and they were so old and cool,” Bruni said.
Senior Brett Baptiste, the president of Bases Loaded, also wanted to continue choir at Conestoga because of his experience at Bass Day in middle school. His favorite part of particpating in Bass Day as a high schooler was meeting the middle school singers.
“It’s kind of like creating friendships early on. It makes (the students) feel like they’re not as nervous to come to high school because they’re getting themselves involved in something that everybody else loves to do,” Baptiste said. “So I think really my favorite part is seeing all the young talent have fun.”
Saktisri Gowrishankar can be reached at [email protected].
