Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy: Concert Choir Gets an Afternoon Makeover
From the start of enrichment to 3:30 p.m., a big change from last year’s 7 a.m. class, choir teacher Mr. Ben Coria and his students rehearse their songs, work on notes and get ready for big performances.
“I love not having to wake up so early, and now we have more time to rehearse and learn our parts,” says Nicole Pang ’16.
The schedule isn’t the only thing that Mr. Coria has revamped. The choir jumped from 10 to 24 members, most of whom are new students.
And returning students have been made section leaders for the Soprano I, Soprano II and Alto groups. They make sure all the members have their materials, know their parts and take attendance.
Rebecca Cálix ’15, a third-year choir student and the Soprano I section leader, has the added responsibility of managing the entire choir.
“It’s a big responsibility, but I’m used to learning all the parts of the songs anyways, so I feel good about it,” says Cálix.
Yet with more members comes more work.
“We do homework, like turning in recordings of our singing for performance assessments and doing online music theory work through programs like Auralia and Musition,” says Pang, who acknowledges that the added work has helped her performance abilities grow.
Freshman Sloan Elmassian likes the performances, saying she loves sharing her talents with her friends in the class.
Mr. Coria is also very happy with the additions to the program. “FSHA is a truly wonderful and unique school. We deserve an equally special arts program. Choir is an important part of this,” he says.
The choir is performing more this year. In addition to school performances, the group is singing outside of school. They sang Christmas carols at One Colorado in Pasadena on Dec. 11 and will attend a choir festival at Mount St. Mary’s College in the spring of 2014.
The Concert Choir’s most recent performance on campus was the Christmas Concert on Dec. 6 in the main building.
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 440 St. Katherine Drive, La Cañada Flintridge, (626) 685-8500 or visit www.fsha.org.