By Shawn Ho (19S03C), Vice Chairperson and Cavan Koh (19A01D), Exco Member

Some people sing as they speak. Some come across the art as they venture into the wonderland of music. Some happen to be gifted with angelic voices. Some just simply want to sing. Whichever category you may fall into, you can always find refuge in a home called Chorale.

Gathering twice a week in the cozy LT1 at the Y14 campus, Chorale members explore the realm of music and experiment with an array of genres, from sacred Latin works and folk songs, to contemporary pieces and even catchy popular music. We share our love for music with the public through two or more performances a year, and aim to share our voices with an international audience every two years, immersing ourselves within the international choral scene. In 2017, our singers clinched first place in two categories in a choral competition in Vietnam; and just last year, Chorale, together with our brother choir from Y14 Raffles Voices, was awarded Gold Award in the 11th Orientale Concentus, an international choral festival in Singapore, as well as 2 special jury prizes. In the upcoming year, we will be preparing for our annual concert in April as well as the Singapore Youth Festival 2019.

Nearing the end of each year, our singers run our last stretch to prepare for Vocal Delights, our fully student-run annual charity end-of-year concert. For Vocal Delights, our members are given the liberty to explore a multitude of foreign territories, such as song arranging, vocal percussion, acting, to put up a spectacular show of their own design and for most, forge the highlight of their JC life. Over the past few years, we have been working closely with Habitat For Humanity, a non-profit organisation that helps build homes for the less fortunate, and all proceeds from this concert will go towards furthering their cause of building a more inclusive Singapore.

So, to answer the million dollar question — what is Chorale? To some, Chorale serves as an outlet for self-expression, with the perennial beauty of intertwining harmonies making Chorale refuge from the stresses of life. To others, singing in Chorale serves as a vessel for self-improvement and a driving force for our choristers towards greater heights. But most importantly, to us, Chorale is home – where each and everyone of us is accepted for who we are and what we do; where each and every one of our voices’ coalesce into one sound. And it’s the intrinsic reward of music and the unity that it brings that every chorister is called back to Chorale; no matter how far away they are, no matter how long ago they left. For there is no such beauty as where you belong.

So, if you have a burning passion for music making, a will to work hard, the tenacity to surmount challenges and ultimately seek like-minded people to create music that you can lose yourself in, we welcome you to this family with open arms.