Choir of Love
Sweets and Songs is a concert full of love themed songs, whether it be romantic, platonic, or familial love.
As the end of January comes barreling towards us, the smell of love in the air has gotten thicker and thicker! – Either that, or it’s the humidity from all the rain we’ve been having. – Whatever the case, February – the month of love and romance – approaches! And with it comes the “Sweets and Songs” concert put on by the LHS Choir!
Sweets and Songs is a concert full of love themed songs, whether it be romantic, platonic, or familial love. Each concert is about an hour long with extremely entertaining songs with the whole choir as well as solos, duets, and/or group songs by people in the choir or Choir Club. It is held in the cafeteria where the choir club officers and volunteers hand out drinks and baked goods like cookies, chocolate hearts, and Rice Krispie treats to all the interested guests!
The first Sweets and Songs concert was held in 2016 after a choir member remarked that the theater department put on more than two shows each school year, and so the choir program should as well. Originally, the choir hoped that the concert would act as a fundraiser, so they sold tickets presale to buy the right amount of cheesecake or other sweets for each guest. However, this chan
ged not too long after the first concert. LHS Choir teacher and theater director Sarah Barthel shares that “[The Choir] quickly realized that we would rather have more people able to come to the concert than worry about selling tickets ahead of time and preordering fancier desserts. Over the years it’s simplified in the “sweets” part, so we have chocolate hearts or other things that are easy to serve to keep our audience happy while we share our music.”
Unlike the Valentine’s Concert’s counterparts – the Winter and Spring concerts – that take place in the Little Theater, Sweets and Songs is held in the cafeteria, which generates its own difficulty. In the Little Theater, the choir members are in their normal rehearsal space, but in the cafeteria, the choir could struggle with balancing the music and vocals. Not to mention, the only rehearsal they can get in the space is within the 30 minutes before the concert. However, despite the obstacles of performing in the cafeteria, the choir manages to pull off an amazing performance each year! Barthel notes how she is “proud of the choir students for taking on that challenge every year.”
While most people would assume that a Valentine’s concert would be chock full of cheesy romance songs, that is actually as far from the truth as you can be! Sarah Barthel emphasizes this fact as she says how her favorite part of Sweets and Songs is “the variety of songs.” She goes further into detail, explaining how, “we try hard to have a mix of ‘I love you.’ and ‘Why did you leave me?’ and ‘I should have broken up with you a long time ago!’ and ‘I have a crush on that (person).’ songs. It always amuses me, the mix of songs we come up with, all loosely on the love theme! We’ve sung everything from Frank Sinatra to Bruno Mars to Golden Age Broadway. It’s great!” All the songs can also range from slow, to medium, to fast paced so whenever you go, you’re always in for a lovely hour of variety and fun – and tasty treats!
This year’s Sweets and Songs Concert is being held at 7 pm on Thursday, February 9th. The doors open at 6:45. Make sure to clear your schedule and come down to see the LHS Choir in action and support them!
Donna Kemp is a Senior at Lompoc High School. She is not a part of the Journalism class this year, but she is still participating on the outside, writing...
