We Are One
King’s Charisma during the ISSMA jazz set
One thing I look forward to every nine weeks is the choir concert I know will be at the end. Every day during seventh period I work with the other Kings Charisma students as well as Mrs. Dubois to learn music, placement, and any choreography to prepare for the concert. The concerts are always fun and go really well, however there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that the audience never knows about.
This year’s spring concert was on March 10, 2021. The high school choir sang three songs: Tshotsholoza, The Way You Look Tonight, and Since I Fell For You. Each song had challenges, but we persevered through them to put on one of my favorite performances I’ve ever done. The junior high choir also performed three songs: Oye, Dona Nobis Pacem, and Sisi Ni Moja. The 6th grade choir performed J’entends le Moulin, The Water Is Wide, and Grow Little Tree. By the song titles I’m sure you can tell the theme of this concert was forgein traditional songs.
The King’s Charisma had one traditional song and a jazz set for ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association). Tshotsholoza is a traditional African freedom song. With upbeat drum music and a moderately fast tempo, it’s hard not to feel liberated while swaying to the drum beat. This song was only performed at the concert, but it was widely liked.
The next set of songs we sang were The Way You Look Tonight and Since I Fell For You. We recorded these songs in class on Wednesday and sent them to ISSMA for a rating and comments. These are two jazz songs written and sung in English. The Way You Look Tonight is about falling in love and thinking the person is perfect. We followed this song with Since I Fell For You. This song is about being broken-hearted and not being able to move on. These two songs were meant to tell a love story.
Like I mentioned before, I personally loved the songs sung at this concert. Many of them were upbeat but had a deep meaning upon inspecting the lyrics. One of my favorite songs was performed by the junior high girls. This song was Oye, a song about children feeling ignored within their everyday lives. The girls brought this song to life and really had fun with it.
One of my favorite things about choir concerts isn’t getting to sing or the rush of performing, but the feeling after. The feeling of knowing that you did it, even if you didn’t know what you were doing. The feeling of knowing the nine long weeks of work that went into the songs was worth it. Being able to walk away knowing you just made a memory you would never forget. One of my favorite memories from this concert happened while we were filming for ISSMA. My heel came off while I was getting on the riser so I performed the whole set with no shoes. The choir got a good laugh out of it.
The choirs work hard to get their songs perfected, but none of it would be possible without our wonderful director Mrs. Dubois. Mrs. Dubois works so hard to push us to be the best we possibly can. She doesn’t have to do all the things she does for us, like break down every song to make it easier for us to learn or teach us how to make our vowels sound better. She puts so much effort into making us the best we can be, so the concert would never have been possible without her.
Junior High Choir 
6th Grade Choir 
Junior High ISSMA Ensemble
Choir concerts seem simple and easy, but they actually take a lot of work. We prep for weeks on end and never feel like we’ve done enough. However we always pull it off. This concert was about traditional music, and my personal favorite performance was Oye. And while choir concerts are one of the most fun things to do, it would never be possible without Mrs. Dubois.
Derek Landis performing his ISSMA solo
Kennedy Thorpe performing her ISSMA solo
ISSMA quartet performing (left to right: Lennon Perdue, Emmalee Zoubul, Derek Landis, Lindsey Richey)
Emmalee Zoubul performing her ISSMA solo
Kyah Preston performing her ISSMA solo
Natalie Howell • Feb 10, 2022 at 12:27 pm
I was not at this Concert so I think that this is very interesting, Thanks for making a good article for me too read.
Capreese Jones • Aug 31, 2021 at 1:34 pm
I like how you gave details about each song that the choirs sang. I also liked how you put pictures to describe different parts of the concert.
MIa Bowlin • May 5, 2021 at 9:59 am
This is a good and interesting passage. I’m in choir so I know about all of this. If I wasn’t in choir this would be interesting.
Braxton Armstrong • Apr 23, 2021 at 2:37 pm
Great article Faith! I loved hearing about the concert. You did a great job writing this article and it was very descriptive. Keep up the great work!
Preston Parker • Apr 14, 2021 at 9:42 am
Great article! I wish I could have attended the concert, but it looks like I’m about a month too late. The pictures and formatting of the article is really nice and something new that I like seeing on the Courier. Good luck to you for the next concert!
Gannon Davis • Apr 9, 2021 at 9:53 am
Nice article Faith! I really enjoyed reading about the choir concert that recently took place. I have heard great things about choir at our school. I have been talking to Eli Martin about it and he tells me that everyone works hard and does a very well job. Keep up the outstanding writing!
Bella Panmei • Mar 15, 2021 at 9:38 pm
I really enjoyed reading this article because not many people often spread word of concerts like these and I am sure you all did an amazing job. I love to sing on my own free time and knowing you guys had a blast and did well is amazing to hear. Hopefully I can attend the next one if there is one at the end of this last nine weeks. Keep up the great writing Faith!
Rochelle Pense • Mar 15, 2021 at 10:12 am
Amazing article Faith! I liked how you went over the songs and the theme of the concert as well as describing what happens behind the scene. Hearing that you performed without shoes made me laugh because knowing you that would happen. I also really liked how you thanked Mrs. Dubois. Keep up the great work Faith!
Gannon Davis • Mar 15, 2021 at 9:48 am
u did good:)
Halley Douglas • Mar 12, 2021 at 10:16 pm
Faith this was a great article!! I love how you incorporated pictures of us singing or getting ready to sing and told everyone what actually happens behind the scenes because it’s a lot. This is one of the best articles I’ve ever read and can’t wait for the next concert!! Amazing job!!!!
Liberty Preston • Mar 12, 2021 at 11:34 am
Really good article. Choir is literally the best thing ever. Mrs.Dubois is the best choir teacher ever. She always pushes us too work hard. The concert was really fun too.
Ella Foster • Mar 12, 2021 at 11:31 am
I am in the choir but was not there. I love how you expressed how much the concert means and honestly it does take a lot of time to prepare for a choir concert Awesome job with this article.
Rylan Preston • Mar 12, 2021 at 10:54 am
I really loved this article! I love singing and enjoy being in choir too! Great job!
Andrea Hair • Mar 12, 2021 at 10:10 am
Faith, Thank you so much for writing this! Choir means so much to all of us and I am so excited to know how much it means to you. A lot of us feel that Kings Charisma and the other choirs are extremely underrated. I am so glad that you put this out there for people to see!! Good Job girl!