For the first time,  MVHS’s freshman choir will not be a mix of both boys and girls. Because of the  abnormally large amount of boys that have enrolled in the course this year, choir teacher Shari Summers worked to create a new, separate arrangement for the choir department. The result is a freshman girl’s choir of about 50 students, and a mixed-age boys’ choir of 30 students.

The boys’ choir has 11 freshmen, 18 sophomores and one junior.

Thus far, Summers feels that having a separate boys’ choir has helped the students in it feel more comfortable with their voices.

“Some of their voices are just changing, and they’re finding their way, and you mix them in with all of the girls, and…they don’t feel as comfortable to sing out,” Summers said. “It’s so much better for the boys to have at least one or two years just with their voices where they can find their way and learn to read the music.”

While Summers hopes that the change will be for the better, choirs students who have been in the “regular” freshman choir in the past have mixed reactions.

Senior Michael Burgess believed that while in his freshman year, despite the choir being mostly female, he was able to grow vocally through being in a co-ed choir his first year.

“You get to be with people of all of the genders and parts [of the songs],” Burgess said. “You get to hear the full range of a soprano, alto, tenor, bass choir, all of the voice parts.”

Junior Pooja Dandekar remembers her freshman choir class being mostly female as well. She feels like they had a lack of boys in her year, and is hoping that having a separate class will encourage more boys to try choir in the future.

“Then, they’re like “oh, I won’t be the only guy,” she said.

As Summers says, having the separate classes has already been helpful.

“They’ve been able to sing out a lot because it’s just them,” she says of the boys’ comfortability in the new class arrangement.