Choir concerts, a time honored TAISM tradition, are nights where we showcase our love for singing. Our audiences witness a night full of voices blended seamlessly to produce beautiful harmonies. What the viewers do not see, however, is the work that goes on behind the scenes: countless practices, sound checks after school, perfecting songs until our voices give out, and hours spent around the piano. TAISM’s choir community is a beautiful one, stitched together by our shared love for music. As we perfect songs in each class, we forge deep connections with our classmates and partners. Our choir concerts represent the culmination of the hard work each student, and our wonderful teacher, Ms Mira, puts in. TAISM’s classic concert ‘Choral Cafe’ is a common favorite amongst choir students. It is a night where we exhibit our love for singing in our own special ways, straying away from the pure choral music performed at our other concerts. 

The song and theme selection process for our smaller concerts--namely, Choral Cafe--is much simpler than one might expect. Ms. Mira is extremely open to student input and feedback. As Choral Cafe is our first concert of the year, the brainstorming process typically begins at the end of the previous school year. At the beginning of the new school year, she then provides us with the concert’s theme. This year, the decided theme was A Broadway Revue. The full-choir song for the year, The Phantom of The Opera, was hand picked by Ms. Mira. For Kindred’s female voices song, Ms. Mira gave us the opportunity to pick any song we liked. A fellow classmate introduced us to a medley of her favorite pieces for Hamilton, titled Hamilton Women. 

Beyond such performances, Choral Cafe is a special concert in that it allows us to pick our favorite musical pieces that we truly resonate with and sing them in small groups. In addition to picking our music, the beauty of the concert is that we get to come together with our friends, making the song-selection process that much more personalized. Picking just one of your favorite songs is truly a difficult exercise, but the end product is a beautiful concert that stitches together all of our interests under the umbrella of the theme. For Choral Cafe this year, our Small Group song, I Have a Dream, which came from one of our all-time favorite musicals, Mamma Mia--this made the rehearsals and performance of the song extremely enjoyable. 
 The structure of our rehearsals differs depending on proximity to concert dates. This year, our performance was set to be significantly earlier than in years past. This gave us a month to perfect our music prior to the concert. We jumped straight into planning and practice from the first class of the school year. At the beginning, we were given time to practice the full group songs while attempting to pick our small group songs. Closer to the concert day, our classes transitioned into focused small group practices, supporting each other while creating harmonies in our music, and choreographing each detail of our performance to come. Ms. Mira also assisted us in this process, listening to our music time and time again to perfect it. In the end, Choral Cafe was a night where all of us were able to express our passion for music in our own special way, whether it be through solos, or with the friends we made through our shared love for singing. 
What we enjoy about TAISM’s choral program is the level of student advocacy and involvement that its environment fosters. We are able to creatively express ourselves and exercise our passions for music in ways that are collaborative and enjoyable. From selecting our small-group numbers to writing our MC script for Choral Cafe, the class truly feels like it represents us as students. On a day-to-day basis, choir is an extremely welcoming and forgiving environment, giving us ample opportunities to sing our hearts out without the fear of making mistakes. The process of assembling a concert like Choral Cafe is one that is as vigorous as it is rewarding. From rehearsals in class to the moment that we are performing on stage--and everything in between--both Ms. Mira and the students in both Kindred and Concert Choir put our all into every concert and performance that is executed. Choral Cafe is no exception. 

By Diana and Anya, High School Students