North Penn High School offers a vast variety of after-school activities to be a part of. Some choose to play football, or crochet, and some spend their Monday and Wednesday afternoons in F051 with North Penn Chorus Director Mr. Matthew Klenk.
The selected 45 students in North Penn Chamber Singers, directed by Mr. Klenk, have been chosen to perform tomorrow, Friday, April 10th, at Kalahari for PMEA.
“PMEA stands for Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. That is the organization of, as it says, music educators in the state of Pennsylvania, so that all public school, private school, and collegiate teachers can be members of PMEA,” Klenk said.
This amazing organization hosts a non-competition event every year that promotes camaraderie, and demonstrates the beauty of music education in the state of Pennsylvania.
“They hold a large annual conference every year in the spring. This is where two things happen. One, is it’s a professional conference, which is the part we’re performing in. Two, it’s where students who individually are able to make All-State chorus, band, orchestra, or jazz happen there as well. The conference culminates with those All-State performances, but the first couple days of the event features different performance groups around the state,” Klenk described.
Hours and hours of hard work and dedication have gone in to not only allow them to be selected for this event but also to prepare them for their performance.
“Chamber Singers is our mixed ensemble selected by audition, mixed meaning soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. It’s definitely our most active group, they rehearse and perform the most, and they pretty much sing everything acapella. There are usually around 45 students in the group. This year they are taking on a number of challenges, and this year’s group is awesome. I say that because in all of my time here I have never put this much work into the group. They’ve shown themselves [to be] fully capable of it,” Klenk explained.
A performance like this entails six specially picked out songs for a set that they will display tomorrow morning.
“We took a couple pieces that we did earlier in the year that we thought really sounded tremendous. My favorite piece that we’re doing is from the American South and it’s called Idumea and it features a fiddle. We’re doing six total songs in our set which we start off with an opening fanfare. The biggest challenge is a piece called Sanctus because it’s full eight part acapella harmony the entire time and it’s very slow but it is gorgeous,” Klenk said.
Naturally with a big and important conference like this, there’s going to be some challenges.
“The biggest thing is how we’re going to arrange because we won’t get to be in the room we perform in till a half-hour before. So we’re preparing for what the acoustics will be like. Additionally, getting everyone in uniforms and memorizing is key for a performance like this,” Klenk stated.
But at the end of the day, there’s light at the end of the tunnel because Chamber Singers get to finish off their time at PMEA with a splash at the Kalahari waterpark.
“The fun part about this is because it’s at Kalahari, we’re going to be able to spend the rest of the day at the waterpark,” Klenk explained. “We have this real high stress performance and then we’re able to celebrate collectively with waterslides and food.”
Chamber Singers being chosen for an event like this truly demonstrates how special our music department is here at North Penn.
“I’m so proud that Chambers is attending PMEA this year. These types of performances reflect the quality of the overall program. Our selection this year was based on recordings from last year, which allows us to show consistency from year to year. It’s such a wonderful opportunity to show music educators around the state what makes North Penn music so special,” Klenk said.
However, not only do they have this honor tomorrow, they also have another set for Sunday. It’s a jammed packed weekend for North Penn Chamber Singers, and they are ready for the challenge.
“What makes this year’s group stand out is that while we’re preparing for Friday, they’re simultaneously also doing a huge performance on Sunday that is completely separate. On Sunday, we’re performing here in Lansdale for the entire Brahms Requiem, which is about an hour long and entirely in German. It’s one of the most important works in music history. So for us to have the opportunity to perform it with a full professional orchestra is a phenomenal opportunity, but it’s been a ton of work because there’s so much music to learn. So the whole year we’ve been learning that in addition to the entire repertoire that we’re going to perform at PMEA,” Klenk stated.
