Blog Post #10 - A Glimpse At DHS Chorus Song Selection

By: Juliet Giangregorio '20

I can’t even begin to count the amount of times I hear “I’m so excited for A Cappella Night!” a year.  I think that it’s definitely most students’ favorite part of the year, including mine. If you don’t know what A Cappella Night is, I’ll explain.  Every January, the Mixed Chorus, Danvers High School A Cappella groups, and guest groups, like the Northshoremen- a barbershop chorus from Beverly, perform their own A Cappella versions of songs at a huge concert - A Cappella Night.  

For me, the most stressful part of chorus is choosing the songs for A Cappella Night.  Some time at the beginning of the year (this year, it was the end of September) every student enrolled in a chorus class has the opportunity to suggest a song they want to sing at A Cappella Night.  We listen to a minute of each song, and then we individually vote on three of our favorites. Next, when each class has a top three chosen by the vote of the majority, we vote again on two songs, which end up becoming our A Cappella Night songs. Think of it like The Great British Baking Show, or Survivor.  Obviously, it isn’t as intense - unless your song makes it to the top three choices for your class.  Then, you have to cross your fingers and hope it makes it through the final round, when all the top three songs from each class are put together, and two songs are voted on for the final selection.  If your song doesn’t make it to the top, then it isn’t the end of the world. And if you despise the two songs that are chosen, trust me when I say they’ll grow on you.

This year, the two songs that made it through all three rounds were…
Green Light by Lorde, and I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys!

After we finally decide on our A Cappella Night songs, we move on to the bittersweet selection of our graduation song.  Every year when the seniors graduate, the entire chorus sings an arrangement of a song to send them on their way. This process is the same as A Cappella Night, except only the seniors get to vote during the final round of songs.  During the selection process, we choose songs that have a theme of coming of age, moving on, and following a new path. This year, after a close competition, the graduation song for the 2019 class is…
Walking in the Wind, by One Direction!
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You can catch the DHS Mixed Chorus singing these songs at A Cappella Night on January 19th, and graduation on June 8th.