The Chorus Department has a total of five concerts in the lead up to winter break. In addition to Winter Concert: Deck the Halls, which was held yesterday in the auditorium at 7 p.m., they have had two other performances and have two more planned for this week.
Choral Director, Patrick Vaughn, shares the impact of these concerts have on his students: “One of the nice parts about being in performing arts is getting the opportunity to be able to spread some cheer, giving kids the opportunity to be able to go out and share their gifts with other people, and also get the word out about what we do here at Annandale High School.” Choral Director Patrick Vaughn said. The holidays are a really good time for that,” he added.
The top two choirs, Annandale Singers and Women’s Chamber, perform for these holiday gigs. Annandale Singers is a mixed choir of some 25 students, including male and female juniors and seniors, in addition to some male sophomores.
The Women’s Chamber is the most advanced girls choir and is mostly made up of sophomores. This is where the most advanced students are placed before they are old enough to join Annandale Singers, due to the large number of girls taking the elective.
Both choirs’ first two concerts of the holiday season were for luncheons for the Alexandria City Schools retired teachers and for the Shepherds Retirement Center. Today, they have their third gig: Noonday Noël at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Old Town Alexandria at 12:05 p.m. Finally, on the evening of Dec. 19, Annandale Singers will present two mini-concerts at the Willard Hotel in DC.
“The first gig with Singers and Chamber was honestly a bit rough, but since then I have seen great improvement among both groups,” junior and Annandale Singer Tyler Miller said.
These performances allow chorus students to make an impact on their community outside of AHS and have fun with friends.
“I think [the concerts] build goodwill between the school and the community. The more that we can get out and do things and show them that this generation of young people has got a lot to offer, I think the better that will be for everybody,” Vaughn said.
Senior and Annandale Singer Christine Mahoney shares a similar sentiment while looking back on her past three years in the program: “These are always so fun because everyone gets to hangout and bond outside of a school setting while also doing what we enjoy. The feeling is bittersweet. I am going to miss singing fun winter songs with Mr. Vaughn and my friends in choir,” she said.
Each year, the choirs begin working on their winter pieces after their fall concert in October.
“I am a process over product teacher. I’m not always aiming for the concert, but for the process, so that every rehearsal we do is a little bit better than before, ” Vaughn said.
The repertoire consists of around 12 songs, most of which are repeated yearly, but also includes four to five new songs. They use a smaller section of this set for the holiday gigs but perform the rest of the music at the Winter Concert, which has a run time of 75 minutes.
For the Winter Concert, the entire choir program opened with Antiphonal Deck the Hall by Greg Gilpin, which inspired the theme of the concert: Deck the Hall.
“When you think about Decking the Hall, you’re preparing for something. And that’s what we’re trying to do in the concert, we’re preparing everybody for the holiday season,” Vaughn said.
Over the past nine years, Vaughn has closed the Winter Concert program with an arrangement of Let There be Peace on Earth, originally by Jill Jackson-Miller and Sy Miller. Vaughn invites up AHS choral alumni to participate in this song every year.
“We all come from a lot of different backgrounds and a lot of different faith backgrounds, but let there be peace on earth is a sentiment that can be grasped on by anybody. Wishing for there to be peace on earth is a thing that everybody has,” Vaughn said.
To close off the holiday season, Annandale Singers will be performing in the lobby tomorrow, Dec. 19, during R5, singing all of their repertoire for staff members.
“I love this season, as busy as we are, I love this season and the opportunity to be able to do some great music,” Vaughn said.
