The Harrisonburg High School (HHS) choirs are performing arts groups directed by HHS choir director Bethany Houff. There are two choirs, concert choir and chamber choir. The choirs contain students who enjoy singing and expressing their voices in front of audiences. Concert choir rehearses during 2nd block on B days, while chamber choir rehearses during 2nd block on A days. Junior Alonzo Vaughan, a baritone singer, explains why he joined the choir.
“I joined choir in elementary school because my family did it, and I have been working in choirs mostly consistently ever since then,” Vaughan said. 

Senior Hannah Metzler, an alto singer, mentions how she decided to join choir because of a friend and how it can fit in her schedule. 

“I joined choir because I thought it would be fun. I kind of wanted to do it for a few years, but I never had space in my schedule, and I have a good friend in that class,” Metzler said. 

Both choirs are rehearsing two songs each for assessment, with concert choir rehearsing “Già il sole dal Gange” and “Scarborough Fair”, and chamber choir rehearsing “Cantate Domino” and “Abendlied”. Both choirs will combine and also perform “Vuela!” at assessment. 

The choirs have skills that they are working and improving on, and they are always focusing on these skills in class before their performances. Choir director Bethany Houff talks about what the choirs have been working on.
“Choir students focus on improving their individual singing voices and musical skills while also working together with everyone in the choir class to ensure the entire ensemble sounds great,” Houff said. 

Junior Katie Grace Schwartz, an alto voice, mentions how the choir is working on sight-reading notes.
“We’re working on sight reading for assessment, and personally I’m trying to work on reading notes without saying them out loud,” Schwartz said. 

Junior Alonzo Vaughan mentions how they are trying to improve dynamics. 

“We’re working a lot on dynamics and primarily dynamics phrasing. We will crescendo when notes on a staff go up, or we hold a note in order to add a more artistic and interesting effect,” Vaughan said.  

Senior Hannah Metzler talks about pitches and fitting parts together. 

“I think we’re working on getting our pitches right and being able to fit both parts together and making it sound right,” Metzler said. 

Then, everyone talks about their personal experiences and what they want to improve on. 

“I’m pleased with the progress the choir classes have made so far this year. Their sight-reading skills and intonation have improved greatly since the start of the year, and it’s exciting to hear their voices becoming stronger and more confident,“ Houff mentions. 

Then she mentions why she enjoys being a choir teacher. 

“I enjoy many things about being a choir teacher. I love music, so the content I teach is great. I also really love meeting young people and helping them on their musical journey, and high school students are a lot of fun.”

Alonzo Vaughan also believes he is doing great, but can also make some improvements. 

“We’re doing really well. We’ve got assessment coming up, and I think we’ll do well, knock on wood. But Houff is amazing. She’s making us work hard, and I think her songs are doing quite well. I have been missing some breaths, and have been running out of breath, so I just need to get into the habit of breathing, not when I desperately need breath, but in a spot that I have planned to breathe so that I can get through everything,” Vaughan said. 

He then mentions his favorite part about choir. 

“I have found a lot of friends. The community is really close. We’ve got a few people who haven’t been in the HHS choir, and some people who come up from Concert Choir. I’m currently the only one who came from chamber choir last year, and it’s really nice to have a class that’s not about academics.”

Hannah Metzler believes the size of chamber choir means everyone must sound good, and would like to work on pitch. 

“Think we’re doing well, it’s hard because we have a small choir, so I think if one of us isn’t completely confident, it affects everyone. I think I would like to figure out how to learn parts faster and memorize pitches and be more confident,” said Metzler. 

She enjoys going to different events and learning songs in different languages and genres. 

“I think getting to sing a wide variety of songs and also having the opportunity to go to other events like district chorus and choir day at Bridgewater was really fun.”

Katie Grace Schwartz believes she has learned a lot and wants to be more confident when singing. 

“I’m doing pretty good. I feel like I’ve learned a lot. An improvement that I would like to make is to be more confident,” Schwartz mentioned. 

She enjoys the fact that it is similar to a break and believes music is an important part of school. 

“I think it’s just a good break from other kinds of subjects that we learn. I think it’s really important to learn music and music theory.”

The choirs have assessment on March 18th and March 19th at Turner Ashby High School. We wish them luck and hope they do great.