The auditorium flashed a myriad of colors as MVHS choir students prepared to perform their annual Valentine’s themed concert on Thursday, Feb. 12. This time, however, they were joined by a mass of Kennedy Middle School choir students, marking this as the second exchange concert the two schools have held together.
The concert was directed by Hannah Sun, a science and music teacher in Kennedy Middle School, and Lofn Young, the choir teacher at MVHS, and lasted around 800 minutes. More than half of that time was dedicated to performing Singing Valentines, where a group of five to six students called an individual onto the stage and serenaded them with a song of the group’s choice. From songs like “All My Loving” by The Beatles with rock and roll elements to songs like “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar with inspiration from R&B and soul, students took on a wide range of genres to perform.
Sophomore Luke Mathai performed “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls for his Singing Valentine, a song he enjoyed for its emotional and meaningful lyrics. He describes his challenges learning songs with less teacher involvement than previous concerts.
“I’ve had to practice a lot out of school because Mx. Young hasn’t been here,” Mathai said. “I’m trying to match the pitch or trying to match the tempo. It’s been really hard since it’s my first year and I’ve never learned how to do that. Trying to understand the songs in itself is the hardest part for me.”
Sophomore Cynthia Hirano says she loves the uniqueness of this concert because of its Singing Valentine component. She also describes the KMS sets, like “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra and “O Love” composed by Victor C Johnson as being some of her favorites, describing the merging of the two choirs as a positive experience.
“I like getting to watch the Kennedy students perform and I can reminisce on what choir was like in middle school,” Hirano said. “Performing with them was really interesting because there’s just so many more people and we can produce such a fuller sound. I think it’s a good experience for them to perform with older students as well.”
Young believed the concert went well, as it was a way for the KMS and MVHS community to come together with their shared passion for music. They said that this concert was unlike others as it emphasized student independence and creativity across all grade levels.
“All of the Singing Valentines in the advanced choir are entirely self-produced, self-arranged, self-rehearsed and self-choreographed,” Young said. “I always love getting to see what’s in the students’ brains. So much of the year is me giving them the music, and this is the time where they get to give us the music.”
