Choir is not an easy A.  That’s the most common misconception about the class, according to the teacher, Carolyn Farley.

“The course of study is rigorous.  Students must learn how to read music..how to behave, how to stand properly and how to produce pleasant vocal tone,” she said.

Regardless of the rigorous curriculum, “The class atmosphere is usually pretty relaxed and fun,” senior Noah Leavitt said.

“You learn how to work well with others, because a choir is all about blending voices so that you sound [good] as a whole,” freshman Cameryn Cohen wrote in an email.

The Beachwood choir program is not as big as it used to be. It had around 70 students in the early nineties.

“It started off with 12 or 15 [students] and then I just recruited, walked around school, asked kids if they wanted to be in choir, and little by little, it grew,” Farley said.  Back then, orchestra did not exist, so Beachwood students had fewer options to satisfy their arts credit.  This year, choir had 34 students at its peak. The enrollment dropped second semester due to students having to shuffle their schedules in order to meet graduation requirements.

“I stopped taking choir because it no longer fit into my schedule,” junior Sam Lazar said.  “I do miss some of the parts of choir and I don’t sing as much anymore, which is sad.”

BHS also used to have its own show choir, an all-female group called The Gold Diggers, which was dropped from the schedule when Farley was transferred to Fairmount and Bryden.

Honors choir is still offered during 10th period.

“Students enrolled in honors choir have additional performances, take private lessons and belong to a group outside of school like community theatre, place of worship or Singing Angels,” Farley wrote in an email.  “Honors choir students also sing more difficult songs (class A repertoire) and have additional assignment during class.

Choir has given several concerts this year.  The most recent one was on May 1, and the program included a wide variety of music: ‘Stay’ by Rihanna, ‘Mirrors’ by Justin Timberlake, ‘Lone Train Running’ by the Doobie Brothers, ‘Tears in Heaven’ by Eric Clapton and Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger.’

“Preparing for a concert entails working not only as a whole, but [also] breaking off into small groups to work with other people, as well as one-on-one with Mrs. Farley,” Cohen explained.

“We sing the songs a lot. And I mean a lot. We practice and practice and practice until our harmonies are perfect,” senior Kyle Cohen said.

Clearly, the hard work on the harmonies paid off at the recent concert.

“What I felt went well was the togetherness. They really enjoyed being together with each other… The harmony on ‘Mirrors’ was really tight,” Farley said.

The next concert will be at a nursing home on Wednesday, May 28th and Thursday, May 29th during 10th and 11th block periods.

“I try to do one visit to the nursing home once a year and that’s all pop music that the students select,” she said.  “[Students] pick the songs they like and we play through them. I’ve got quite a few Disney. I was pretty surprised that both classes chose a Disney song.”

“We are going to be singing some recent songs including ‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz, ‘Human Nature’ by Michael Jackson, ‘Breaking Free’ from High School Musical, a medley of mashups from Pitch Perfect, and lastly ‘The Best I’ve Never Had’ by Beyoncé,” Cameryn said.

Besides performing at a nursing home, choir provides many more opportunities to perform as a full ensemble and interact with both students and music teachers from other schools than both band and orchestra do.  Like instrumental musicians, choir students can also participate in OMEA.

“They sang Class A repertoire, which is the hardest… They are required to look at a list, select a song and perform before the judge,” Farley said.

“We work with other adults in the music field and…learn different musical techniques,” Cameryn explained.

From choir, Farley hopes that the students take with them, “a lifelong love for music. Doesn’t matter what the style is, doesn’t matter whether it’s singing, instrumental, going to listen to a concert.”  She also hopes that they continue to pursue music for the rest of their lives.

“I love teaching music, it’s the best job ever,” she said.

When Farley says to her students, “If you never take another music class in your life…” they respond in a chorus, “You will learn how to read music in Mrs. Farley’s class.”

“I get an A for doing what I love,” Kyle wrote. “What could be better than that?”