This year the anticipated Choir trip was set in Williamsburg, Virginia from April 5th to April 7th 2024, with the choir returning home as champions once again. With a repeat of last year’s achievements at the 2022-23 trip to Disneyland in California, the choir was able to win multiple sections and a total of seven awards in the competition.
The choir and band both shined with both winning three awards each and Glen Rock winning an overall award. The overall choir also won the overall Sweepstakes Award.
The many members of the choir, including the teachers Mrs. Lilikas, Mr. Helder and Mr. Wasek plus chaperones left at 8:30 am on that Thursday. The band and multiple choirs had hit the road and were ready to perform. Coming into the Worldstrides Performance competition, Glen Rock had multiple teams, choir and band. The competition had two different venues that fit these needs, one for the band and one for the choirs. Each team had thirty minutes to warm up and begin to perform for adjudicators. The adjudicators will write their thoughts and opinions or talk into a recorder to make comments. After the performances are over, the adjudicators share what they think the musicians can do better, based on their response and adaptations to those comments determine the ending score.
This year the performances were in seven sections. Three of the sections were performed by the concert choir, two were performed by the treble choir and the other two were performed by the chamber choir.
The differences between a treble, concert and a chamber choir is determined by their vocal composition and range. Treble concert choirs consist of treble voices which means sopranos and altos. This also means there are higher vocal ranges in this section. On the other hand, chamber choirs have a broader spectrum, which has soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices. While treble concert choirs have brightness of treble tones, chamber choirs aim for a blend across different vocal ranges, creating a diverse sound.
During this trip, each choir performed a variety of songs that knocked the judges’ socks off. The concert choir performed “Ma Navu”, “Dies Irae” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. The treble choir performed “Alleluia” and “How Do I Love Thee” and the chamber choir performed “The Last Words of David” and “Wade in the Water”.
“I think the thing that I like about our choir the most is that we have a good mixture of older songs, usually like classics. But we have a good mixture of things that are formal, something that you might hear in a formal hall and something that’s a little bit more lively,” Ms. Hathaway, one of the chaperones shared about how the choir stands out to her.
As the school year starts to wrap up, the choir start to say their goodbyes to the seven seniors that went on the trip were Giulia Beaudoin, Hima Badarvada, Noah Lee, Ryan Petraitis, Cam Chiappetta, Leah Holzer and Abbie Auxter, all who attended their final choir trip.
“The seniors sing in various parts of the choir but they are special to me because even though their freshman year they had to do choir over zoom, a lot of them stuck with it and made it through to their senior year. They are all wonderful people and I am going to miss them a lot next year,” Mrs. Lilikas, one of the choir teachers, reflected.
Awards:
Treble Choir: Silver
Concert Choir: Gold, 1st Place
Chamber Choir: Gold
Glen Rock High School: Overall Sweepstakes Award (highest combined score of school with 3+ participating choirs)
Jazz Band: Instrumental Sweepstakes Award (highest score of any instrumental group)
Jazz Band: Gold
The Maestro Award went to Lucas Marty for his saxophone solo in the Jazz Band.
