Yesterday was an event that I had been waiting for since last summer. The Oak Creek High School Choir program had an Alumni Choir event and it was worth every minute of the Saturday that I gave up to participate. It’s the kind second chance to we don’t get very often.
I graduated from Oak Creek back in 1984 and the class that I enjoyed the most during High School was Choir. I was not a musical prodigy and was not even bold enough to do any Solos during High School but I really loved my time as part of that Choir. We had a Choir Director that was very demanding and had high expectations of us but we all had a great time meeting those expectations and really had some great experiences during those years. After high school I didn’t really take many opportunities to sing or be part of a Choir and I missed that for many years. Once I got married and settled back in my hometown of Oak Creek I joined my Church Choir and while I enjoy that, our Choir is rather small and the experience is not the same as what I had enjoyed in High School.
When my oldest daughter started High School four years ago and joined the Choir I was exposed to the new Oak Creek High School Choir program and found that things had changed a lot since I had been in Choir. Some things had change drastically but some things had remained the same. The styles of music that they performed had expanded quite a bit and the size of the Choir had also expanded a lot. They had even added after school Show Choir groups to the lineup. The one thing that had not changed is that the Choir students loved Choir and had the utmost respect and admiration for their Choir Director. I attended Choir events regularly and really enjoyed being involved when I could.
Now I fast forward to last summer when I first heard Mr. Wulterkens(known to students as Mr. Dubbs), the current choir director, talk about an Alumni Choir event that he wanted to hold in early 2015. I wanted details and to know how to sign up right away. By August the date was set for March 7th and Choir Alumni started spreading the word by mouth and social networks to get people interested in the program. As the date approached the numbers grew slowly at first but then it picked up steam and ended up with a little over 100 alumni registered for the AlumKnightChoir event.
The morning of March 7th we gathered for registration and then had a brief activity to break the ice before we got into the serious rehearsal time. Most of the Alumni present were Mr. Dubb’s students but we also had about 10 from the 80’s around my time and also a couple from the 70’s. We had separate men’s and women’s rehearsals during the morning and then had mostly combined rehearsals during the afternoon. It was a fairly brisk pace but Mr Dubbs and Miss Pacetti had selected songs that they were confident that we could learn during a day of rehearsals. They had sent out information to allow us to practice ahead of time but I like many did not have a chance to do much of that. We had three songs to learn before the concert at 7. The four current choirs were going to each do two songs and then we were going to do two songs before we finished with a song with all choirs combined.
At 6:00 PM all of the Choirs had to be present to go over the combined song and to practice the movement that they had planned for the song. This was something new for us choir old farts since during our days we really didn’t do much in the way of movement during songs. It was a lot of fun although I must admit I am not very talented in trying to look like I am moving naturally while singing. We were also doing the last song without music but since the rest of the Choirs already knew it they would lead and we could fit in pretty easily.
When it came time for showtime we were seated up on the bleachers along with the existing Choirs. It was again enjoyable to watch the Choirs that performed before we did. We were the last individual Choir of the night. My daughters were in two of the other Choirs so I always like to see what they are working on. Our two songs were very different and I must say that I enjoyed the second more than the first. Frostiana is a good piece and I remember doing it in High School. It’s just a more restrained song. Our second song, “He Never Failed Me Yet”, was a Gospel song that we could put a lot of energy into and we did. I still can’t decide whether that one or the final with all Choirs together was my favorite. The big difference between the two was the finale had even more energy since we were going from an Alumni Choir of about 100 to a Combined Choir of about 300. Wow was that a blast.
Mr. Dubbs has said he would like to make this an annual event and I am all for that. I would love to be able to come back and sing with a Choir like this again and again. Next year I will only have one daughter in the program but my other daughter can join me in the Alumni Choir. I will be watching closely to see when next year gets scheduled. Mr. Dubbs, Miss Pacetti, and everyone involved in the program did a great job planning the event and I can’t wait for next year.
Our first song- The Road Not Taken
Our second song – He Never Failed Me Yet
Finale – Tshotsholoza
Jul 3 2018
One of My Favorite Songs
I love music and Contemporary Christian and Worship music has been my favorite genre for some time. This is one of my favorite songs of all time because it reminds me why I am here. Easter is my favorite Holiday and we sang this Easter Sunday morning and I loved singing it. I have had the opportunity to see Matt Maher in concert and he is an excellent worship leader.
By gwheatley • ccm, Matt Maher, Music, visitation 0