TOWAMENCIN – The North Penn Choral Department held its annual Choral Invitational Concert on February 25th to a house packed with high school students from all around the North Penn area. Vocal choirs from Cheltenham High School, Quakertown High School, Spring-Ford High School, Central Bucks East High School, and North Penn High School performed three pieces each, all varying in style. Stand-out pieces of the night included “Twa Tanbou” from Spring-Ford and “Sure on this Shining Night” from Central Bucks East.
North Penn chorus director Matthew Klenk acknowledged the benefits of the invitational concert. “This is a really great way to see that other schools in our area all have great music programs. We are very proud of our program here, but we live in an area that is completely filled with really incredible music programs.”
Other directors were in agreement with Klenk, including Quakertown director Jonathan Lechner. “It’s really positive for the kids to hear other kids singing and supporting each other.”
A new and exciting addition to the concert, Temple University’s co-ed a-cappella group Owl Cappella performed their arrangements to popular songs like Katy Perry’s “Roar.” A student run group, Owl Cappella has auditioned for America’s Got Talent and has an EP on iTunes. One member, Tyler Lawson, is a North Penn alum and current Music Education major at Temple. He was involved in every choral group during his years at high school and was also a member of the wind ensemble and jazz band. Looking back, Tyler thought that “it’s really interesting to hear choirs from other schools and see what they do differently. I think we get stuck in doing things one way and we forget that it might be the best or it might not be the best.”
The event is also an opportunity for each choir to receive feedback on their performances. There are no awards, but they were judged so that they can improve by spring concerts. This year the judges were Dr. Amanda Quist from Westminster Choir College and Dr. Ryan Kelly from West Chester University.
North Penn High School closed the night with three diverse songs: “Heilig”, “Blessed Are They”, and “Simple Gifts”. The first was sung in eight parts, the second was written by former choral teacher Davis Giersch, and the third was accompanied by Nabil Muquit on clarinet. The students received overwhelming support from the visiting high schools in the audience.
After a night of dramatic music and melodious harmonizing, senior and choral president Kuhoo Verma expressed her reactions to the concert. “It’s great to see they are all involved with music and care about it as much as [North Penn students] do.”