By Madelynn Bryan
This March, Christian Unified’s concert choir enjoyed two very unique tours where they gained experience and learned many new things about singing and performing. The first was the Disneyland trip where the choir first performed at California Adventure and then in a live Disney recording studio where they recorded Disney classics and saw them overlayed into actual Disney movies. This was particularly special to those choir members with an interest in a singing career, who now have the experience of what it is like in a professional recording studio setting. The choir recorded “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana and “Take You There” from Princess and the Frog.
The choir agrees: The Disneyland tour was mostly for fun. However, a month later they went on their Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) tour was filled with many more educational opportunities and work! On the ACSI tour, the students got to explore Vanguard University’s campus, which is looking to recruit young, talented singers into its extensive music program. Students also got to work with other Christian choirs with Vanguard’s choir professor. It was a different and very cool experience because there were a lot of male singers from other high schools there. Christian Unified’s choir boasts only two male voices, so it was exciting for the students to participate in a full, four-part (SATB) choir.
In an interview with the choir director, Miss Preleyko, she expressed how she enjoyed “Seeing [the choir] sing and perform outside of the school, as well as the fun venues that were there. It really can’t get much better than that!” She explained how the choir improved through the experiences of these two tours. “I think we improved in confidence,” she said. “I think we gained a lot of confidence singing with others. I also think we improved on certain musical techniques working with Dr. Prado.”
Overall, the two choir tours, though different in almost every respect, resulted in similar improvements to Christian High’s choir. The students had lots of fun, expanded their horizons, and got to grow together as a choir that loves the Lord.
