Seniors Serenade with V-Day Grams

Seniors in Mark Roberts’ Chamber Choir continued the romantic tradition of embarrassing fellow classmates and staff members with love-song arrangements on February 12.  2 a cappella groups, 1 all male and 1 all female, visited classrooms throughout the school day, singing abbreviated versions of songs from their repertoire to lucky students  and teachers for whom Valentine’s grams were purchased.

“It was really fun,” said Brooke Finegold. “By the end of the day, we were all really tired. My legs hurt so much, but it was really fun, even during seventh period. It was still worth it to see everyone getting really excited or embarrassed.  My favorite part was seeing how we could light up people’s day.”

“We sang to the study hall teacher,” Finegold added. “And she started singing along and it was really cute.”

“The experience as a chamber singer member is really, really fun because you get to go around school all day [and] serenade people,” said Tim Lovelace. “Singing is what I’ve always loved doing and the more I sing, the better it is because I’m enjoying every second and I’m living every moment.”

The boys’ sang versions of “Drowning” by the Backstreet Boys, “In the Still of the Night” by Boyz II Men, “Your Man” by Josh Turner, and “Life Could Be a Dream” by the Countertops. The girls sang versions of “Clumsy” by Fergie, “Hey Steven” by Taylor Swift, “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton, and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley.

The vocalists arranged the music themselves and practiced in their own time. “We didn’t have any class time to prepare at all,” said Finegold. “We would have rehearsals at brunch or at lunch, but then we also had to sell grams at lunch. So we’d go after school to some people’s houses. We had individual people making the arrangements, the arranger taught everyone their piece, and we just practiced before school and got it done.”

“I don’t do really anything,” said chamber teacher Mark Roberts. “I just supervise and facilitate. They take skills that I’ve taught them and create music on their own. The whole point is that they’ve built the skills over their last four years in the program and then they’re capable of doing something like [the Valentine Grams.] It’s a proud moment.”