Sometime in May this year, the various aspects of the music department will each have their own separate spring concerts. For the choral department it’s going to be their yearly Pops Concert. The Pops Concert is more than just a normal singing concert. It involves singing and dancing, costumes and different lighting, plus sometimes it even involves a little acting to go in it as well. This has been going on for some time now as a yearly event for the Music department.

Last year’s Pops Concert theme was Broadway. The themes for the Pops Concert are supposed to add flair and excitement to the stage.  With last year’s Broadway theme, the department played hit songs from popular movies that made it to the stage. The songs had varied from “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray to “Seasons of Love” from Rent. The costume and the dances also had to correspond with each act that was being performed.  This year the pops concert theme is Decades. Everything about this upcoming performance will represent previous decades ranging from the sixties to our modern times. Popular songs that are under consideration for this year’s show are songs by The Jackson Five, The Beatles, or even, for the modern twist, Beyoncé.

Something new and different from the other previous Pops Concerts, is the fact that this year the choral department will be opening up to the whole school. Anybody who wanted to could audition for this, no matter your grade level or enrollment in a music class.  Something else that could possibly happen is that the guitar teacher, Mr. Walker, could be helping out once again. He would be giving out a more solid beat with his guitar just like he did last year. Preparations for this will be starting soon once they find a good choreographer to teach them the steps, and after the yearly assessments. A significant part of the preparation includes after school rehearsals, which will also happen after assessments and also a few days before the big concert day.

Assessments are the grades that the music board teachers give to their students. They assess their abilities to read, write, and understand music on a sheet. They also assess their breathing and tone abilities. Since music classes don’t have big tests like the SOLs, they make up for it by having this test. Once the testing has been completed then planning for this concert can begin.