The all day Eastman Choral Workshop was held on Friday for students grades 5 to 12. Students from all over the Eastman region gathered together to learn new songs and perform in an evening concert.

Carly Davidson is a music teacher in the Clearspring Middle School. She says the students are split into a grade 5 and 6 choir, a grade 7 to 9 choir, and a grade 10 to 12 choir. She says they start the workshop at 9:30 am and work all day long learning new songs they have never sung before.

“The students are always a bit nervous and think 'Mrs. Davidson why have we not practiced anything for the choral workshop day?' and I tell them they are coming here and learning all of the songs from scratch. It is very nerve wracking for them but once they get here they just jump right in and they're very excited about it.”

Tim Friesen was the Director of the grade 7 to 9 choir. He says his favourite part of the day is hearing all of the students voices come together for the first time. He notes throughout the day the group gets better and better at working as a team. He adds the grade 7 to 9 choir was quite large.

“It is very exciting. This is a big group to work with, there are 101 singers. They are very energetic and they are really gung ho to sing right from the warm ups, and they have been right through the afternoon. It is a long day to stay energized and in the moment. It is an amazing group to work with.”

Abigail Martens is a grade 9 student form the Steinbach Regional Secondary School. She says she has been part of the workshop since she was in grade 5 and says it is an amazing experience.

“It blows my mind every year that we can learn four or five songs in a day and I think it also blows everyone else's mind. It is weird because you come knowing nothing and you leave with this whole new experience.”

Martens notes it is very rewarding and exciting to perform new songs in front of an audience after working on them all day long.

Nakita Georgijevic and Avery Kroeker are grade 6 students at the Clearspring Middle School.

Georgijevic says the grade 5 and 6 choir learned a total of four songs. She says the choir director was really nice to work with.

“They are very kind, they don't really care that much if you mess up. They say if you mess up you can just try again, it is no big deal.”

Kroeker says this is her second year taking part in the workshop and it is something she looks forward to.

“I really like meeting everybody, and just singing all day long. I love to sing, it is kind of a highlight for me.”

Davidson says as an alumni of the Eastman Choral Workshop it is exciting to see students coming back year after year and continuing on with choir.