Each year, students at Bethany involved in Concert Choir look forward to the annual MSC Choral Festival. The festival involves six different choirs from various Mennonite high schools across the United States and Canada. Each choir performs their own solo pieces, as well as learn several pieces to perform as a massive group. This year’s festival was the 55th, and it took place at UMEI Christian High School in Leamington, Ontario. Each school participated including UMEI. We learned six songs together, and then performed them Sunday evening following each choir’s personal performance.
Overall, the experience taught me a lot. The music was challenging, and at first I wasn’t sure if I would be able to perform well, or if a group as large as the mass choir would be able to execute the task of learning the music. Three of the songs were in another language entirely, and one piece was eighteen pages long. It was sung in both Latin and English. Even though the music was very difficult, I still feel like I learned from those around me and from our conductor, and in the end I grew as a singer.
Another interesting part about MSC choral festivals is the opportunity to meet new people. In rehearsal, I was seated between girls that didn’t go to my school, and in the mass choir I stood next to girls that I didn’t know. I was nervous about being around people that I didn’t know very well, but we ended up talking and they were very friendly On top of this, each student not from UMEI got to go live with a host family. These elements really helped me branch out and meet new people, which is not something I easily do on my own.
When asked about what he enjoys most about MSC, Brody Thomas, the choir director at Bethany, said that he enjoys seeing his students branch out and tackle difficult music. He also enjoys hearing everyone sing together at the end of the trip and seeing how far we have all come and how much we grow.
In the end, the whole experience was very interesting. I’m glad I got to go on the trip, and I look forward to going again next year, learning more, and meeting even more people than I did on this years trip.
~Skylar Yoder