NEWS: First NASD Music Fest Sings (and Plays)

by Ethan Bachstein, freshman

The Nazareth Area School District was proud to present the first annual Nazareth Music Fest! Musical talent from across the district was in attendance on Thursday, February 3rd, featuring singers and musicians from each of the district's schools. The students practiced together all day at NAHS to prepare for the evening's performance.

The festival started the night with “Great Beginnings” and “Tamboura,” directed by both Ms. Mann and Mr. Hillborn. The choir started with a male section, giving two songs, and then moving on to the female section singing “Mr. Sandman” and “White Winter Hymnal.”

Following them up, the Crescendudes sang a few songs, such as “Come Go with Me” and "Build Me Up Buttercup." Following their lead, the Noteworthy sang the classics “Hello My Baby” and “Mr. Sandman.” For the big finish, the band and choir joined together, performing the National Anthem and placing their hands on their hearts as they recited the Pledge of Allegiance in unison mid-performance. As the performance concluded, the audience erupted into applause, giving the students a standing ovation.

The goals of the event were to build district-wide connections between students in the music department and to help rebuild the enthusiasm for the arts after two years of disruptions.

When the pandemic began, many musical events were postponed for safety. And as Mrs. Rocchi mentioned, it was not easy to make this happen: “I never thought singing could be dangerous. But we are back!” said choir director Mrs. Rocchi. 

A lot has changed, but what never did change was the music department’s drive to make this happen again.

 

The Sound of New Choral Music

By Graeme Olson

The Nazareth High School chorus program has two new groups starting this year, and it is an exciting time of change for those involved.  

There’s now an auditioned all men’s choir, Men of Nazareth, which rehearses every Tuesday and Thursday after school.  It has 13 male vocalists in its first year of existence.  Choral director Mrs. Kelly Rocchi said her inspiration for starting an all men’s choir was that female members also got attention in Nightingales, while male singers didn’t have the same opportunity.  So, she believes having this all male choir will help male and female singers be “on a level playing field.”

However, Men of Nazareth isn’t the only new group starting in the Nazareth choral program this year.  Cantus, an elite choral group with 16 singers, is an auditioned group that rehearses every F Day during Eagle Block.  It is essentially the replacement for Chorale, the former auditioned co-ed group that rehearsed after school.  Chorale had about 30 members, so Cantus is more exclusive, about half that. 

Cantus perform at Lehigh University. Photo Credit: Kelly Rocchi

Cantus is a particularly elite group, as there are only 4 people for each voice part (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).  And because Cantus typically only meets on F days during Eagle Block, the students must come to each rehearsal having practiced their music.  How is the new group working so far?  In the words of Mrs. Rocchi, “so far so good.”  She says because the singers in Cantus have proper vocal technique, that helps them despite their limited amount of rehearsal time.  

Liam Condon, a member of Cantus, described Cantus as a “very hard working group of people who truly love what they’re doing.” He emphasized the amount of dedication and involvement it takes to be a member of this group.  Since there’s little rehearsal time, everyone has to be more dedicated to practicing.  Cantus has already done two gigs, one of which was called “Night Lights,” which helped raise money for cancer research.  They also sang at the “Joyful Noise” event in Bethlehem, which was a celebration for the city recovering after Bethlehem Steel closed.  Overall, Liam told me that he thinks Cantus will reach its full potential as the year goes on.  

It should be noted that the other new group, Men of Nazareth, is a very new experience for Mrs. Rocchi and the male singers in the group.  Mrs. Rocchi bought an exercise book called “The Resonant Male Singer” that helps male singers with vocal technique.  She says that teaching male singers is very different from teaching the Nightingales, as male singers have different anatomies and deeper voices. Rocchi has focused on helping the group become more resonant singers, with a forward and clear sound.  Their first big event was Saturday, October 12th, where they participated in the “Men of Song” festival at Penn State with high schools all around the area, with well over 200 singers, including the Penn State glee club.

Men of Nazareth enjoying pie. Photo Credit: Kelly Rocchi

 Now, where did the names “Cantus” and “Men of Nazareth” come from anyway?  Rocchi says that “Cantus” is the Latin word for “sing.”  Since a lot of choral music is in Latin, that definitely makes sense.  

Rocchi considered a few possible names for the all-male group, though, and thought about calling them the “Knights,” as the name sounds similar to the Nightingales.  She made clear that many guy group names are pun-oriented, like Crescedudes, so she decided to go with the more powerful and professional-sounding Men of Nazareth. 

Altogether, there are now 6 different vocal groups at Nazareth.  When asked if managing all of them was stressful, Mrs. Rocchi replied quite simply at first: “Yes!”  However, Rocchi believes it is rewarding, and that her experience of teaching for 15 years has helped her out. 

When there are so many different singing groups, organization is key.  Rocchi emphasized that in smaller groups there’s a heightened sense of responsibility for each member; if someone is screwing up, it’s more easily noticeable, so it makes everyone work a bit harder.  She saw that as a positive, but if a few members of a section are missing from rehearsal, that can be detrimental.  

As for the future of the choral program, Rocchi dreams that one day there could be 40 men in the Men of Nazareth group, just like the Nightingales.  However, she feels that Cantus should be kept at 16 members, as the competition means that hopefuls will work harder on their music in order to get in the group.  

It’s an exciting year of change for the Nazareth choral program.  Both of these groups will contribute well in our concerts and events around the community.