The day after a long trip across the Pacific Ocean, choir students—clad in black and buzzing with excitement and nerves—performed at the Nakasone Performing Arts Center, which sits about five miles away from Pearl Harbor.
Led by Director of Choral and Vocal Studies Christian Stallworth, students from GDS’ a cappella groups and three GDS choirs—Chamber Choir, TOLV and Vocare—attended the Honolulu Heritage Festival on Oahu from March 19 to 23.
While the choral students intended to perform at the festival as part of a competition, historic amounts of rainfall and thunderstorms meant that some schools could not attend, and the festival did not run as planned. Hawaii saw an average of about 18 inches of rain during most of March, and a “rain bomb,” as the mayor of Honolulu described it, hit Oahu on the choir’s last day there.
Instead of judges grading the GDS choir against other schools, students instead took a masterclass—as sophomores Austin Kang and Madison Bayard called it—from Erica Glenn, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University–Hawaii and vocal coach.
During the masterclass, Glenn listened to the pieces that the students prepared for the competition and provided feedback. She noted the importance of using one’s body to show emotion and convey feeling to the audience. “There was one point where she circled them around the piano,” Assistant Head for Equity and Inclusion Marlo Thomas, who chaperoned the students, said. Thomas explained that Glenn then taught the students to move like gospel singers.
The students spent months practicing for the Hawaii festival, according to Stallworth. Some a capella students who were not taking choir as a class practiced the music after school and during community time with Stallworth.
Students saw the storm as a time for the group to bond. “The rain was actually really fun in a way,” Kang said, recalling another student carrying him over a large puddle.
Along with Hawaii this year, choral students continue to travel outside the D.C. area to perform. Last year, choral students performed at Carnegie Hall, as they have for many years. In February, they sang at the Berklee College of Music and performed at a senior living home, both in Boston.
“When I came to GDS,” Bayard said, “I knew how to blend. I knew how to be quiet for people to not hear me.” Bayard explained that her previous choral instructors discouraged her from singing boldly. “I’ve definitely learned to make sure that I’m heard, rather than just letting someone cover me up.”
The choral program’s spring concert is on April 28 at 7 p.m. in the Black Box.