On Tuesday, March 6, all of the Lake Central choirs came together to perform the ISSMA songs.
Preparing songs for ISSMA and the concert can be stressful for the singers.
“[Preparing for ISSMA] was a little stressful, not going to lie. It took a lot of hard work to learn all the songs, especially to properly speak French. We also were aiming for a gold, so we wanted to make sure all the pieces were the best they could be. For the concert, it was less stressful since we had already got gold and we were just performing what we already knew and perfected,” Stephanie Gustas (11) said.
Perfecting the songs to be critiqued by judges can be hard when you have a limited amount of time to practice.
“We have rehearsals every Monday and Friday to work for Counterpoints, but we’re all well aware that these songs will be critiqued by judges and not just our families. District competition happens in January, so we have less time to work on the songs than normal, so it takes more hard work,” Lauren Kamykowski (12) said.
The concert usually takes place after the ISSMA competition, making most of the songs perfected and ready.
“What makes this concert easy, however, is that it comes after District and State for Counterpoints, so our pieces are well polished by the time we perform for our families,” Kamykowski said.
Compared to other choir concerts, this one is shorter in length due to only being able to perform two songs at ISSMA.
“We perform fewer songs at this concert. Counterpoints are only able to compete with two songs at District and State in comparison to the normal three or more we learn. Bells also [does] not perform at this concert. We also showcase soloists who receive golds on their solos at ISSMA,” Kamykowski said.
The choirs that performed at this concert got a gold medal at ISSMA, except for the Concert Choir, who still has not competed.
