“Music is really a way to express to your emotions. There’s always a song for a certain mood you’re in. So if you want to amplify your feelings, then you can listen to this song, or if you want to cry your eyes out, you can listen to another song. There’s always something that you can tune into at that moment in time and just makes you feel more in tune with reality or more in tune with your emotions really,” Olivia Hodge, junior and first year Bare Voices member, said.

This Saturday, October 20, there is the 20th annual Choral Festival where every year choirs ranging from the elementary schools to the high school perform together. The event begins at three pm and goes till five pm and every level, ranging from elementary choirs to high school choirs, performs their own song followed by combined pieces between the levels.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the dynamic of [Bare Voices] because this is going to be our first time [of the year] performing in front a bigger crowd and I feel like a big part of what the group is is having chemistry between each other and having fun with the music,” Grace Loverde, senior and first year Bare Voices member, said.

This vocal chemistry between group members is what takes the difficulty level of these high up choirs to the next level, members say.

“It’s so cool to see the blending of voices and making different types of songs with all the different volumes because it’s gotten past the point of just hitting the right note and now it’s more about how above and beyond we can go with a song and read deeper into it,” Morgan Marguerite, junior and first year Bare Voices member, said.

Through their experiences as musicians in elementary school/middle school, members of the high school choirs reflect fondly upon how this event has inspired their own career in music.

“When I was in middle school I was in the festival and I remember Bare Voices singing, and hearing their voices was incredible to me. It was something I had never heard before. We were then sitting, watching the concert choir and just watching and seeing the difficulty level motivated me to keep trying because I wanted to be a part of something so cool,” Marguerite said.  “Family and friends were like that’s so cool that you’re going to be a part of that one day and people will look up to you and I wanted to be that kind of musician that people look up to.”

The opportunity to pass on this inspiration through interacting with younger students and encouraging them to pursue their love for music is what Hodge finds rewarding at these festivals.

“I always find this a great way to interact with kids younger than you and give an opportunity for them to see how choirs are in high school so hopefully they continue on,” Hodge said. “Every year they allow some high school students to go and eat lunch with the middle schoolers and I think that’s a really great way to show them how much fun choirs can be and you don’t necessarily have to be amazing to be in it because it’s for everyone. It’s just so fun to do.”