Park’s choir performed at the District Choral Festival on Nov. 6 in the middle school auditorium. They sang both individual performances and group performances alongside the middle and elementary schoolers. This was the choir’s first concert of the school year, and Steve Mollick, Park’s new choir teacher, experienced his first time conducting a performance at Park.
Choir teacher Steve Mollick said the choir started practicing its pieces for this concert as soon as the school year started. He said they strived to improve their sound and progressed in the difficulty of pieces as their practice went on.
“We started day one, rehearsing some of the easier music, working every day on building our voices and building beautiful tone and fine-tuning throughout (rehearsals). Then the songs came with that,” Mollick said.
According to freshman Celestino Pascual, Mollick had to put in a lot of work to organize the concert, while the students’ main role was to be present and practice their songs in class.
“It’s been a lot of behind-the-scenes work, specifically for Mr. Mollick. To me and to all the other kids in the class, we just come to class and we sing a bit and we practice the songs,” Pascual said. “But, I can imagine how tough it might have been for Mr. Mollick to get it all together.”
Senior Lyn Wingenbach said the concert was an effective way to introduce new choir members, like the freshmen, to performing their pieces. She said the performance was also an exciting way to kick off the rest of the school year.
“I’d say with this being the first concert, it really is a whole new experience for a lot of people, especially the freshmen, since it’s their first time being a part of a high school choir that’s really committed,” Wingenbach said. “It’s just a fun way to get started with the year.”
Pascual said because they performed alongside the middle schoolers, the concert was an opportunity for high school choir members to get to know other singers in the district, including those with whom they would be performing in upcoming years.
“(The concert) was a really good experience,” Pascual said. “It was a lot of fun, especially because we got to perform with the middle schoolers. It was a great chance to build community and see the people who will be in the choir next year.”
According to Mollick, he wanted to select songs for this concert that would embody Park’s community. According to him, he chose songs with various meanings that reflected the values of the school, from topics of immigration to childhood.
“I tried to choose music that represents our community,” Mollick said. “One piece was written by a woman who wanted to honor immigrant communities. Another piece is about singing and dancing as a kid. I thought that would fit perfectly for this particular concert.”
Pascual said he enjoyed having the chance to sing the melody of one of their songs, despite being a bass player, which is a role that normally only gets the chance to sing a couple of notes in every song.
“My favorite part of the performance was probably ‘Weep, O Mine Eyes’ because it’s a really good song and I especially enjoy it because I’m a bass. Normally (basses) have to sing at one or two notes for the entire song, because we keep (the tempo) in time, but for ‘Weep’ we got the melody, which made me really happy,” Pascual said.
Wingenbach said even though choir has only been practicing since the start of the school year, they were able to put in the work needed in order to be prepared for the concert. She said even with the changes that came with a new choir teacher, it was an enjoyable experience for the singers at Park.
“(This concert) shows that we’re able to really commit and work on things in a short amount of time. We haven’t been in school that much, but we’ve already got a concert down,” Wingenbach said. “I know a lot of us miss Mr. Myszkowski, but Mr. Mollick is great. It’s a new experience, but it’s a good one and we’re all having fun.”
