By
Elizabeth Richards
Traditions
are important to the Windham Chamber Singers, and one highly anticipated
tradition is their Senior Concert, where they perform their tour program and
honor members who are graduating. The tradition lived on this year, though in a
very different format.
On Thursday,
May 28, the senior concert video premiered on the WCS You Tube Channel.
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| The Windham Chamber Singers performed a concert again this year for graduating seniors at Windham High School, but because of COVID-19 concerns, the concert was videotaped and premiered on the group’s You Tube Channel. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
The video
included solos from some of the senior members, individual recognition of each senior
in the group, photos set to music that was part of their tour program, some
special “high fives,” and a virtual choir performance by the group, singing one
of their tour selections “I will Sing You the Stars.”
Dr. Richard Nickerson,
Director of Choral Music for Windham High School, said it was important to him
to do something that would not only honor seniors but all the members of the
choir.
Since school
let out in mid-March, Nickerson said, the group has met regularly on Wednesdays
to check in and connect, continuing to lean on each other even while apart.
“The news
that we weren’t going to be coming back to school was extremely devastating
because we had so many plans in the works for the spring,” said Aiden
Day, a senior and the 2019-2020 president of the chamber singers.
Though
difficult to process, he said, both as an officer and a senior, they quickly
regrouped and came together for a Zoom rehearsal the very first Wednesday after
school was out. They worked hard together
to create the virtual choir by recording their parts individually.
“Dr. Nick
found a way to string them together and produce a really beautiful sound,” he
said. “I’m really proud of how hard we’ve worked.”
Denali Dieumegard,
2019-20 vice president and 2020-21 president, said that the technical aspects
of recording her video for the virtual choir weren’t difficult, but the
emotional side was trickier.
“I think for
everybody it was very emotional to sing that without standing next to our
friends and fellow chamber singers,” she said.
“Our philosophy during this pandemic has been
let’s focus on what we can do, not what we can’t do,” Nickerson said. Putting together a virtual choir performance
was one of those things. It was a
difficult process, but very therapeutic, Nickerson said, allowing him to
process everything that has happened and the losses the group experienced this
spring.
It also
helped him remember how amazing the first half of the year was, he said.
The night
before the video premiere, the Chamber Singers upheld another tradition.
“The night
before the senior concert every year is a big night for us,” Nickerson
said. It’s when the group elects
officers for the following year, and seniors share what their Chamber Singers
experience has meant to them. “It’s a
chance for them to really say how they’re feeling,” Nickerson said.
Even though
they had to meet via Zoom this year, it was quite a moving time, he said.
Day said the
senior concert video was special, particularly the last high-fives because it
included so many people they had worked with over the years.
“It was
really overwhelming to watch,” he said. “It just really was the closure I
needed to move on and celebrate the end of my career in Chamber Singers.”
Nickerson
agreed.
“High fiving is a big thing with us,”
Nickerson said. “It gives me eye contact
and at least a second or two where I get to look into the eyes of each
individual singer no matter how many there are in the choir. It’s kind of our moment to connect before we
sing,” he said.
The video
helped make up for some of the losses they’ve experienced this year, Dieumegard
said.
“We’re
really sad to see the senior class go. It definitely was a nice send off for
them. It is hard without our usual traditions because that kind of does
finalize it,” she said.
According to
Day, it was a nice honor.
“It was just a really nice tribute for us
seniors, and I’m really grateful for that,” said Day.
Nickerson
said it was exciting to be able to see how many people were watching and follow
along with the comments.
“I think we
used technology the best way we could,” he said.
An added
bonus to the online format is that anyone who missed it still has an
opportunity to watch the video, which is posted on the Windham Chamber Singers
You Tube Channel. <
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