Valentine’s Day has come around again, and the Athens Drive Choral Department spices up the holiday romance with their traditional fundraiser, Singing Valentines, adding unique originality and creativity to the typical deliverance of roses and cards.
“My favorite part of Singing Valentines is that I get to make people’s days better. Being able to sing all day is so much fun, too,” said Abby Kaufmann, junior, “All of the hard work, organizing the group dynamic and harmonizing to sound good, will definitely pay off.”
Singing Valentines have become a long-standing tradition at Athens Drive. Choir Director Joy Clayton has been supervising this fundraiser for about ten years, but the project had been in place before she started working at the school.
“My favorite part of this fundraiser is that I am able to see my students’ creativity, and I am able to watch them grow, especially when it comes to their confidence in performing in front of their peers. That takes a lot of strength,” said Clayton.
When Singing Valentines first started, there were only four traditional songs that were available. Now, there are an additional ten pop songs, varying each year. These pop songs enable the chorus students to be creative and sing different songs that allow them to have fun with a range of new and old styles.
“I also like to see them think outside the box and make their songs their own. They get a lot of freedom and they get to develope their own styles,” said Clayton, “Singing Valentines also allow students to work together in group collaborations, improve critical thinking, practice improvisation and foster student leadership.”
Singing Valentines are delivered by the Vocal Ensemble, a more advanced choir that requires an audition and approval, and the Concert Choir, which also requires a vocal screening and acceptance.
“I love doing Singing Valentines because you get to learn about people in your group and discover their capabilities while also expressing the feelings of the season,” said Tristan Carr, senior, “My favorite part is that we are able to do mashups and make well-known and popular songs original. We get to express creativity and try out new techniques.”
This year, the choirs sold four traditional songs: “Lean on Me,” “Stand by Me,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Happy Together.” In addition, each group customized and adopted their own versions of hit pop songs. Some of these included “Love me Harder” by Ariana Grande and mashups of “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit and “Latch” by Disclosure. There was even a Disney mashup of the songs “Kiss the Girl” (Little Mermaid), “You’ll be in my Heart” (Tarzan) and “I see the Light” (Tangled).
“After a lot of practice, I think we sound really good, and after the fundraiser, we have definitely earned the funds through our hard work,” said Lauren Buckner, sophomore.
The funds raised from the sales will be used to buy new music for future concerts and the upcoming musical. The money will also be used to pay for piano tunings and the accompanist for concerts. Funds also pay for choir trips and choral apparel. The Singing valentine event is the biggest choral fundraiser that will support the program for this spring and next fall.