How many languages can you speak? And how many can you sing in?

For two Beaver Area chorus students, they can proudly claim to sing in four languages, some of which you may never have heard before.

January 24–26, students from 37 schools in PMEA District 5 came together to lift their voices at their District Chorus Festival.

Hosted at Mercer High School, students had the opportunity to work under the direction of Dr. Bryan Helsel.

Originally, the guest conductor was supposed to be Dr. Andrews, a native to New Zealand. After a surgery on his leg, however, he was not cleared to fly, so Helsel, supposed to be the piano accompanist, took up the position of festival guest conductor.

Beaver Area was represented by senior Amara Stewart and sophomore Manny Garcia. This festival was a first-time experience for both students.

Garcia explains that the biggest difference between this festival compared to an everyday concert choir at school is “a lot higher expectations. There’s a lot more people at District Chorus, making it bigger than our high school choir.”

The students’ concert repertoire was a lineup of very traditional songs from New Zealand, the home country of the original conductor, Dr. Andrews.

This didn’t stop the students from becoming fully immersed in New Zealand culture.

The students sang pieces in English, Latin, Māori, and Samoan.

While Garcia’s favorite piece was “The Moon Is Distant from the Sea,” Stewart’s favorite was “The Wellerman.”

Stewart laughingly shared that Dr. Andrews made an entire Google Drive of pronunciation videos for tricky words written in the native language, Māori.

Describing their favorite memories, Garcia said, “After ‘A Te Tarakihi’ there was a stomp and then just the silence to a standing ovation—it was insane.”

Meanwhile Stewart had a different story: “Winning a penguin,” she simply said. “[Dr. Helsel] gave out little stuffed animal penguins. He’s from Youngstown State University, and it’s just merch. He gave them out to encourage class participation. So anyone who read a New Zealand fun fact or answered a question got a penguin. I volunteered myself to read a New Zealand fun fact . . . and mine was that there are three islands that make up New Zealand.”

Garcia supplied the answer to the fun fact: “North, South, and . . . ”

“Stewart!” Stewart exclaimed.

Of course these festivals aren’t all fun and games. Neither Beaver Area participant enjoyed the dreaded audition process of all PMEA events.

Stewart nervously laughed when the topic of auditions was brought up, but Garcia summed it up perfectly for anyone who’s experienced one.

“Not fun! Terrifying!”

Stewart shared, “I was just happy my audition pieces were both in English!”

Every student who attends a festival similar to this comes back with more advanced skills and knowledge under their belt.

“Dynamic contrast,” is what Stewart felt was her biggest takeaway.

Garcia agreed saying, “Oh my gosh, that was such a big thing, as well as phrasing. I’m going to use that a lot more during musical, actually.”

Stewart elaborated on the topic, explaining, “He taught us dynamic contrast within the phrase, rather than just doing the dynamic. We would vary the contrast within a word, even, to keep the audience on their toes. We were constantly crescendoing and decrescendoing.”

Although neither student is advancing to regions, they represented our school with pride!