School of Music hosts six high school choirs at annual invitational

The Paul T. Plew School of Music hosted its annual High School Choral Invitational in the Music Recital Hall on Friday. Six local high school choirs, including Saugus, Castaic, Valencia, Santa Clarita Christian School, Trinity Classical Academy and Calvary Chapel Christian High School, performed and received feedback from Dr. Marius Bahnean, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities and adjudicators Bill Brandenstein, Kellie Cunningham and Sarah Dixon.

TMU’s Chorale sang two songs to close the program, Shawn Kirchner’s “Unclouded Day” and Eric William Barnum’s “Afternoon on a Hill.” The event was followed by an ice cream social that took place in the recital hall due to possible rain and windy weather.

“We drive two hours to get here, so for us to be able to stop and eat and talk to people, it’s helpful,” said Kristina Young-Goodner, the choir director of Calvary Chapel Christian High School. Her school has been coming to the invitationals for over ten years.

“We always look forward to it because this festival has a high-quality aspect to it that you don’t get at every festival—good adjudicators who give thoughtful comments,” Young-Goodner said. “But they don’t talk to you in a degrading or a condescending way. So, it’s really great to bring your choir here because they’re going to hear great music, they’re going to receive great comments in a positive environment.”

Samantha A., a freshman in the Calvary Chapel Christian choir, participated in the invitational for the first time this year.

“It was really cool, seeing how the different choirs perform, and the advice they gave us was really helpful,” she said. The freshman’s goal is to pursue singing in the future and she expressed appreciation for Bahnean’s hands-on direction during the workshop.

“I feel that it might help in my journey more, in my musical career,” she said.

Beyond the tailored feedback for each choir, TMU Chorale’s Blaine Koval observed that the having the Chorale sing at the end gives high schoolers a taste of how a Christian education can provide excellent training, even for musicians.

“It’s easy to assume that it’s a smaller Christian school and so therefore the quality’s not going to be as good,” he said. “But then they get to see that actually it is, and that Dr. B is a really smart guy.”

Koval and fellow Chorale member Ali Knapstad noted that the event serves as an outreach to the community, as several of the schools and students participating are not Christian.

“We all spend a lot of time praying in the weeks coming up to this event that people will be able to see that we’re glorifying the Lord through our music and that we’re not just singing for ourselves,” Knapstad said. She pointed out that the sacred songs performed by several choirs are opportunities that get students to think about what they sing.

“It’s cool to even just hear Dr. B working with people, reminding them that the words they’re singing have a purpose.”

For Young-Goodner, a Biola graduate, TMU’s invitational is the perfect chance to encourage her students to pursue a Christian education.

“As a Christian school, I want my students to be exposed to other Christian colleges,” she said. “I try to be unbiased and let them go to Vanguard and come to APU and come to Master’s so they can get the different experiences on college campuses and see where the Lord might be taking them.”