Starting the year off on a high note, Blue Jay Chamber Choir is the newest addition to the vocal music program.
“[Blue Jay Chamber is] an intermediate auditioned group for any students, grades nine through 12, who are currently in the vocal music program,” choir director Phillip Holthus said.
LHS Chamber Choir is different from Blue Jay Chamber.
“Liberty Chamber Choir is a select group and have already made it into our Concert Choir,” choir director Rika Heruth said.
Concert Choir is the top audition choir that students can make it into. Both Chamber choirs are extra curricular choirs that meet outside of school on Monday nights for two hours.
Blue Jay Chamber has all four grades participating in it.
“It gives you a diverse opportunity [for] both vocally and socially,” sophomore Alana Pendergraft said.
Having all of the grades in it helps encourage the students to help each other.
“Being kind of in the middle, I get to look up to the people who are older and help the people who are younger me,” junior Shannon Best said.
There are only junior and seniors in LHS Chamber.
For both chamber choirs the audition is just as it would be for the MCDA All-Districts. The audition process includes a solo and sight-reading. There is always a diverse response to the difficulty level of the audition.

Sight-reading is a common difficulty for many of the vocal music students, but the ones in the chamber choirs are very advanced.
“It was very difficult,” junior Roman Accardi said. “In fact I only got four out of ten points on the sight-reading.” On the opposite side of the spectrum, senior Camille Meeks said, “Personally it wasn’t that difficult.”
These chamber choirs are an opportunity for students to grow musically and meet people who share the same passion of music.
“I like being in extra curricular choirs because they’re fun and you make a lot of friendships in them,” senior Joel Currence said.
There is a more musical aspect to it as well.
“We’re not just learning technique,” Best said. “We’re learning how to express a song.”
The music is different from what the students sing in choir.
“I look for something that challenges the musicians and fits the voices. I like to make sure it’s diverse genres from classical to multiple cultural to pop. We try to branch out a little bit. We also do vocal jazz,” Heruth said.
Some of the students enjoy the different types of music.
“It is [a] higher variation in styles, musical era, and language,” junior Zac Pitts said. “Such as in choir we mainly do English and Latin pieces [where as] in chamber we include many African languages as well as Islamic pieces,” junior Zac Pitts said.
Another difference in the music is the different voice parts.
“I think the music is better when there’s more people and more voice ranges,” sophomore Trevor Harr said.
For those who are not in Concert Choir, they are not used to all six parts.
“I feel like it’s powerful and emotional in a large chamber choir than [in] a choir with all men’s voices,” freshman Hollis Hagenbuch said.
There are many differences in Chamber than in regular choir.
“[Chamber is] way more difficult. He [Holthus] expects more since we are an honor choir and had auditioned for it,” freshman Emily Goodwin said.
Each chamber choir is a smaller and closer than regular choir classes. “[It] is a closer knit group of the highest level singers the school can offer,” Pitts said.
The goal for all vocal music students wanting to be in the top choir is to make it into LHS Chamber choir.
“My goal is to be in Concert Choir and Chamber Choir, “Hagenbuch said.
In order to reach these goals students continue to work on sight-reading and solos to become the best of the best.
The directors have common goals for the students.
“[My goal is] that they would be able to enjoy singing for all of their lives and be able to be a part of a choir even if they don’t major in vocal music,” Heruth said.
“I hope that students learn that music is more than black notes on a page but that true music is an aesthetic experience that is shared between the composer, the musicians, and the audience,” Holthus said.
Each student has a different reason for singing.
“I started singing because my sister was in choir and I’ve always loved singing,” Meeks said. “Choir gives me a chance to develop better technique and sing more classical repertoire instead of singing pop music.”
“Singing is something that I love to do. It’s something that helps brighten my day,” Pendergraft said.