Hours of singing, extra after school practices and learning to harmonize will finally be tested. In an annual tradition, the campus choral department is set to perform their first concert of the spring semester.

Choir members are holding their annual junior high and high school spring fundraising concert, ?Celebrate the Music,? March 28. North Fresno MB Church is hosting the concert. The one-hour concert is $5 for students and seniors and $7 for adults and begins at 7 P.M.

The choir is raising money to pay for music, piano tuning, and eventually to purchase a set of risers of their own, currently they use the Peoples Church risers.

?We have been practicing for the concert the whole semester,? Luke Degroot, ?09, said. ?I think it will pay off because we have worked really hard. I think the concert will be good practice for our trip to Seattle because it will give us a chance to perform these songs and see how we do with them.?

Aaron Bryan, choral director, feels that the number one goal for choir is to become more than just music and singing but to reach people on an in-depth level and engage with the audience.

?When people leave the concert, I want them to feel like it wasn?t just a concert, but an experience,? Bryan said. ?We want touch peoples hearts and reach them on a level that is more than just mere words.?

Bryan also directs the ensemble is most excited about a piece by Eric Whitacre called “Lux Aurumque.”

?This piece, which depicts celestial light shining down from heaven onto the manger where Jesus lies sleeping, is filled with lush harmonies and long periods of dissonance and tension,? Bryan said. ?Whitacre evokes light in many different forms but mostly the idea is that the light is warm and heavy as gold. This piece is incredibly difficult and requires a lot of each singer. The piece is written in many different voice parts, sometimes there is only one singer on a part. This is definitely our most challenging piece.?

Concert choir has spent a majority of their time practicing a song written by Gerald Finzi called “My Spirit Sang All Day” and accompanist, Aarne Kela, says the group is more than just entertainers.

?I think that the choir should not just be entertaining but communicate with the audience,? Kela said. ?We want to create a feeling of connectedness with the crowd.?

This piece will be sung a cappella, which means that they will have no instrumental music to carry them.

?Everyone should come to the concert because they are outstanding and they deserve to be heard,? Bryan said. ?Also, because this is on of the only opportunities to hear what they have been working so hard on.?

Along with preparing for their concert, the choir department also must prepare for their trip on April 9-13, to the Heritage Music Festival and Competition in Seattle.

?I am totally psyched for the trip because it?s my first time out of the state and the festival is known to be a good learning experience,? Jackie Cowin, ?10, said. ?The judges will educate us and that will help us make our choir stronger.?

They will be performing at Auburn Mountain View High School as part of the 2008 Heritage Music Festival.