West Choir is singing in the nineties, or really, they’re singing in the eighties as well. They performed songs like Patience by Guns and Roses and I’m Going to be 500 Miles by the Proclaimers at their Performing Arts Showcase on September 19th.

“We pick a theme for Performing Arts Showcase; last year we did an Elvis theme, and this year we’re picking music that the parents might listen to when they were kids… We thought that would be a lot of fun,” BV West Choir Director Kimberly Modelski said.

Modelski personally arranged the pieces performed at the showcase, though not all of the students found the theme to be their particular style.

“I think that it’s an interesting deviation from usual choral arrangements, even if some individual songs are not the group’s favorites,” Sophomore Tess McChesney said, “Mrs. Modelski manages to make the performance entertaining for all parties.”

McChesney has been in school choirs since she was in fourth grade, and she is currently in Choraliers. On the other hand, Chambers Choir is working on several projects right now.

“Our upper level groups, like our chamber seniors, are working on a bunch of Renaissance festival music because they perform out at the Renaissance festival that’s coming up at the beginning of October,” Modelski said.

BV West choir has been performing annually at the Renaissance Festival since 2011, and this year will be Chambers Senior Natalie Xu’s second year attending the festival.

“ In addition to [the Renaissance Festival] we have our first big, formal concert the week of Homecoming also in October. So right now, we’re very busy. We’re always probably working on maybe two different types of performances at the same time,” Modelski said. One of choir’s performances will be at Kansas Music Educator’s Association, or KMEA, in February.

“Quote coming from natalie about how she feels about KMEA” Xu said.

KMEA is where the top twelve vocal groups in Kansas are selected to perform in Wichita, along with the top twelve band and orchestra groups.

“Our competition pieces [this year] all have a deeper meaning which I think is intrinsic to a good performance,” Senior Natalie Xu said regarding her future Chambers Choir performances. “All our songs have an emotional connection to allow the audience to relate to the music,” This emotional connection may have been the key to BV West Choir being selected for KMEA.

If you’re thinking of joining choir, know that the door is always open. “We’re always taking new kids in choir, there’s a lot of kids in choir this year that couldn’t fit it in their schedule last year that came to some of our performances and realized that it was a lot of fun, and there’s zero outside of school rehearsals,” Modelski said. Last year was a very strong year for BV West Choir and this year is setting up to be a promising one as well.