It’s the first choir concert of the year. The first time the sequin red dresses and tuxedos come out, the first time the plaid skirts see the stage lights and the first time the new mixed choir takes the stage.

With the loss of Tomas Lambotte, last year’s freshman Women’s Choir teacher, the women’s Bella Voce choir and the freshman men’s choir had to mix into one this year.

“A lot of the people in the mixed choir are inexperienced,” sophomore Gloria Gantt said. “A lot of people that were in Lambotte’s choir last year are, like, the top people in the choir this year.”

The combining of the choirs has been a stressful experience for almost everyone involved. The sheer size of the group could be too much for a choir room to handle, forcing the students to awkwardly file into the band room for rehearsals. Still, the choir overcame this to work through pieces of music to prepare themselves for the first concert of the school year.

“It went all right. We had a few mistakes here and there though,” freshman Jacob Wineland said. “From what I heard, it sounded like we did pretty good.”

Wineland’s view, however, was not shared by the entire group. Many members of the choir were unhappy with their performance.

“It’s the first concert of the year, and we got really distracted in class,” sophomore Brogan Holdren said. “That probably contributed to the fact that we weren’t ready to perform.”

Despite the lack of preparation, the choir is hopeful for the rest of the year. Chamber Choir has already begun practicing for the State Honor Choir competition and pieces have been chosen for the audition-only choirs for the next concert.

“We get to work on harder stuff,” sophomore and previous freshman choir member Claire Todd said. “We have to make sure that we have it all down and that we can learn pieces faster and start working on harder stuff.”