The middle school and upper school choirs will take part in several bonding activities this year in order to create a better sense of a choir community on both campuses.
Performing arts teacher Rodger Guerrero said he wanted students at the Middle School to see where being a part of the choir program could take them, and he wants all choir students to feel safe in the community because it increases the quality of their performances.
“If they get to know each other, then they’re more open to breaking down their personal walls, and the music is expressed and performed better when the kids are willing to express who they really are. So if this is a safe space, then the kids will go out on a line and give their all no matter how much of themselves they have to reveal,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero plans to have a rehearsal day on the middle school campus followed by games, a mentor program between choir students in the seventh grade and twelfth grades, rehearsals for boys in the middle school choirs at the Upper School and rehearsals for Bel Canto at the Middle School.
“Performing arts should be a place where you really make lifelong friends,” Guerrero said. “So this is just kind of a way to enhance that so no kid feels like they’re alone. If they’ve got something really tough going on in their lives, whether it’s with regards to their classes or with other teachers or students or even with their parents, they have some friends in choir that they see every day that they can really rely on and go to.”