McCord’s composition, publishing company piece highlight fall choir concert
Chorale Choir performs at the Choir Fall Concert on Tuesday at CHS Auditorium. This annual concert showcases all the variant choirs including Madrigals, Treble, Tenor Bass, Chorale, Kantorei and A Cappella.
October 3, 2019
Applause fills the auditorium, as the Coppell High School Choir beams with pride after a successful fall concert.
Excited to present two months of hard work, each choir performed at least two pieces. During the first concert of the year, the A Cappella choir also presented a composition by senior Alex McCord and recorded a piece to send to a publishing company.
Coppell High School senior Alex McCord McCord’s song talks about his composition that was performed by A Cappella at the Choir Fall Concert on Tuesday at the CHS Auditorium.
“A Clear Midnight” was inspired by Walt Whitman poetry.
For McCord, who has been exposed to music all his life, Tuesday night was a significant milestone.
Although “A Clear Midnight” is the first complete song McCord has composed, it is not his first composing endeavor.
“I liked listening to songs and being able to pluck them out on the piano and being able to play them,” McCord said. “Improvising music was a big part of that.”
McCord’s passion for music has been a big part of his childhood, and he has been in the choir program since sixth grade. Throughout constant support and encouragement from his teachers, improvising soon transitioned into composing.
“I really like the message of [‘A Clear Midnight’], and I like what I was able to do with it musically,” McCord said.
A Cappella also recorded its performance for “Confitebor Tibi”, composed by Johann Casper Ailblinger. At last year’s UIL competition performance, one of the judges, who worked for a publishing company, reached out to CHS choir director Bona Coogle and asked if the choir could do demo recording for the piece. Tuesday was the first time the piece was ever performed.
“They reached out to us because they found us, and they liked the way our choir sounded,” Coogle said.
The UIL judge was not the only one impressed by the Coppell Choir. The audience was entranced with the many performances. The concert opened with the chamber choir Madrigals, followed by the Treble, Tenor Bass, Chorale, Kantorei (Varsity), A Cappella (Varsity) and finished with two pieces sung by the combined choirs. The one hour concert ended with a heartwarming piece dedicated to the late grandfather of Kantorei sophomore Caitylynn Hargrove.
Tenor Bass Choir performs at the Choir Fall Concert on Tuesday at CHS Auditorium. This annual concert showcases all the variant choirs including Madrigals, Treble, Tenor Bass, Chorale, Kantorei and A Cappella.
However, the marvelous performance was not immune to challenges. It took months of work to perfect the presented pieces.
“The hardest thing is to really blend and find their ensemble voice,” Coogle said. “Our goal was to make sure they listen and they blend, so they sound like one choir, one voice, rather than 44 different voices. I think the biggest thing for them was to really listen, and adapt and be flexible.”
Coogle emphasizes how proud she is of each choir.
“Every single choir that performed tonight, they have grown so much,” Coogle said. “It’s just an overall effort from all the choirs that performed and really worked hard to put together this concert for everybody.”
The students are also extremely proud of their hard work, visible through the encouragement they display for each other.
“What I enjoy most about choir is being able to express my passion for music with other people who feel the same way as me,” Madrigals junior Swetha Tandri said. “It was cool that we were all so unified and passionate about it.”
