Arcadia High School (AHS) Chanteurs is one of the two levels of the AHS Choirs, aside from Concert Choir. This extraordinary group of young performers dedicates their time and contributes their vocal skills to make up our school’s very own ensemble.

Among these talented students are junior Nicole Jeu and senior Sylvia Li, members of the AHS Chanteurs who have had a passion for singing since very young ages. Both Jeu and Li are second-year choir members, having auditioned last school year and placed directly in Chanteurs. 

“Singing activates the right side of your mind, you get to be more creative in expressing your emotions, and it helps you regulate your emotions,” commented Li. 

Outside of choir, Jeu doesn’t take any vocal lessons as she is self-taught. Having prior experience in the field of music playing the piano and clarinet, she taught herself how to read musical notes since it is an essential skill to have as a singer, especially when it comes to learning a new song. Show choir is what initially got Jeu hooked into joining the choir as she has never sung in a group before, and the thought of the experience made her interested in joining to express her love for performing. As a person who used to get stage fright, being in the choir allows her to take on something new, expressing not only her voice, but also her emotions in the tone of singing. 

According to Li, the hardest part about singing is the ability to keep a constant tempo. Many singers tend to speed up and sing faster than others, making the song feel rushed. Another issue comes down to the blending of voices since she believes that there are certain ways a person can sing, which may make it difficult at times to produce a perfect harmony. 

However, the choir’s amazing director, Ms. Tu has always been there to help the singers build on the areas that need improvement. Ms. Tu provides warm-ups and breathing exercises at the start of the class to make sure the singers use their diaphragms while singing instead of lifting up their shoulders. This is an incredibly crucial skill to always have in mind when singing as it helps them maximize their vocals to be able to reach a broad range of notes. Aside from that, Ms. Tu is very passionate about the choir and strives to enhance the quality of each student’s voice. 

“It’s not necessary that you need to be good at what you’re doing. But I think that you need to first enjoy what you’re doing so that you will want to learn and improve, then you can become a good singer. It all starts from the heart,” stated Ms. Tu. 

“My favorite memory surrounds one of our last concerts which was the Choir Night Cafe where we got to work in our separate little groups, where we also worked on our show choir. That was cut short because of how many COVID-19 cases were rising, but it was really fun to learn choreography while singing at the same time,” said Jeu in response to her favorite memory of being in the choir. 

The two talented singers gave advice to those looking into joining the choir that a good singing voice isn’t at all necessary since each year the director looks for different types of voices depending on the musical pieces. Being open and friendly to fellow choir members as well as working together is the key to producing a good harmony.

Photo Courtesy of UNSPLASH