Honor Choir Festival

                Leaving after breakfast on Wednesday, February 20, eleven students traveled seven hours to Southern Adventist University. Only two hours after their arrival, they began practice on the four English songs and four Latin songs that they were to perform that weekend. The eleven Bass students joined the ranks of students from all over the Southern Union of Seventh-day Adventists who were acknowledged as specially-talented choir members. Dr. David Gardner, the guest clinician from Southwestern College in Kansas, and Dr. Gennevieve Kibble, SAU’s Director of Choral Activities, skipped all intros and formalities and dug right into the perfection of the eight songs that the participating students had practiced weeks, possibly months before. Dr. Gardner would stop the singers every few seconds to correct some unforeseen mistake in the performance.   

            The practice itself was rigorous and exhausting, and sleep was a welcome alternative to the choir’s strained vocal chords. Every rehearsal began with a version of the game “Simon Says,” in which Dr. Gardener would either clap a beat or sing a series of notes, and the choir would try to mimic what they’d just heard. Several other helpful and fun warm-ups were presented at the festival, some of which have been brought back to school and used in the BMA choir. Afterwards, the choir would sing several songs, from the toe-tapping gospel song “Rejoice!” to the dramatic but subtle “Lux Aurumque.” The rehearsals were accomplished in two-hour intervals, with fifteen minute breaks in between.

            Then came the performance.  The choir sang the eight songs with perfection during the church service that morning and at a special concert that afternoon. The soloists, none of which were from BMA, did an amazing job and blended perfectly with the selected songs. 

            After melancholy goodbyes and a few group pictures, the groups from each school loaded busses and vans and departed. The group from Bass had fun, singing and glorifying our Lord and Savior with their God-given talent. Now the hard part is to wait two years until the next festival!