Before a soloist starts to sing behind a unison voice takes over, it’s the chorus.
What is chorus?
Well, to start with, the definition of chorus according to Vocabulary.com comes from ancient Greek tragedies. A chorus was a group of people who spoke in unison about the actions of the character, which is where we got the word chorus from.
A chorus is a group of singers who sing parts of a song that repeats several times. They may sing in unison or in different parts, such as soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, or bass.
These parts have different ranges in singing which is why they have different voice parts. Soprano can be C4-A5, alto can be from G3-E5, contralto is F3-D5, Tenor is roughly around C3-A4, Baritone is A2-F4, and finally bass is F2-E4.
What are the benefits of doing chorus?
There are many benefits of doing chorus such as it can enhance and improve your voice as you learn a lot of new techniques in chorus. It also builds great social connections there are a lot of events you attend while being in the chorus, so you meet a lot of different types of people, also if you stay in the chorus for years you move up with the same people, so you become close to about everyone.
According to a new school of music they state, “When you consider the physicality of singing, you may think singing only affects the lungs and vocal cords. But singing can benefit your whole body…”
As they go on the list the reasons such as connecting your breath, posture, warming up your voice, the respiratory system is engaging and working, building stronger muscles, and a good heart rate, it can even play a part as a healthy immune system.
It also benefits your musicality as you learn vocal techniques, reading music/sight reading, and just expands your vocabulary and knowledge of music.
Ms. B when asked what the benefits of chorus are said, Though making music is beautiful and reading music helps you grow it is the emotional social emotional benefits that you get out of it I value the most.”
Chorus at CSHS
Our chorus program began in 1975 when the school opened. When are chorus teacher here was asked why she decided to join CSHS chorus she said, “I was ready to move back up to high school I was in the middle for 6 years and elementary for 2 but I really wanted to go back to high school”
Events we do here at CSHS vary as they are always ready to sing at any moment when the staff here ask them to. They sing at assemblies or go on field trips to sing for certain, the elderly, etc.
They do competitions such as MPA, which you can read about in our feature section. They also have something called All County Which is a big group of vocalists all around the county and they come together to sing in a large ensemble.
Allstate is a competition students will attend after passing a variety of tests, from sight-reading to writing and vocal. Once they are passed, they get to enter a large group set into sections of other students who passed the test and perform together.
And there is so much more opportunity provided, even some things that provide scholarships. They even do chorus concerts each quarter.
