The IHS Choir and audience members experienced a night of clapping, laughing, and busting a move on Tuesday, May 8th for our choir’s last concert of the year. Their theme was “Decades” and featured songs from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s.

After UIL in April, the choir began to prepare for this concert.

“Mr. Draper gave us our music about a month or two in advance and every day in class we work a little bit on it. Leading up to the concert we would work on it more and more frequently. We would split lunches, so the people who are going on the trip or people who are seniors would go to lunch and come back. And he would work specifically with the seniors because the seniors have certain songs that they are singing,” senior Ethan House said.

“Basically we did repetition. Like studying each segment by segment… like after we finish one segment we start on the other one and we build upon that like building blocks,” freshman Matthew Gabrillo said.   

The “Decades” concert featured many soloists including junior Jordan Lutz.

“I personally sang “Can’t Help Fallin’ In Love.” What I did was I did a lot of just hitting repeat of the song and listening to it on Spotify. I think I spent a total of three hours one day on repeat. And it just came with a lot of memorization. Like it’s an easy song, but I have a problem with nerves, so I just had to practice a lot,” Lutz said.

The choir members had to prepare more than lyrics for their concert. Every song featured dance moves and choreography from the students.

“So for the songs that are from the ‘80s we try to do ‘80s specific moves. The songs that are more of the boy bands and the girl groups from the ‘90s we try and do moves that are appropriate there. And when the girls are singing Beyonce they try to do Beyonce style moves there,” choir director Robert Draper said.

This concert may mark the end of the year for the seniors, but they are wishing the best for the choir as they reach new heights next year.

“I hope that they enjoy it as much as I did this year. Like, I hope that they take it seriously and they get stuff done, but I hope they enjoy the little moments as well,” House said.