On Thursday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m., months of preparation will pay off as EHS’s choirs perform musical pieces composed by the members of the choirs.

Every four years, students in choir compose original music to be performed at their winter concert.

Some students are in groups, while others compose on their own. They are assigned genres based partly on their interests.

Seniors Sarah Reese and Holly Wilkerson were assigned to African music, and they set their music to an original poem by senior Heba Freese.

“Going through the process of writing a song and seeing it being performed helps you appreciate what composers go through,” Wilkerson said.

“It advanced our ability to write and harmonize music,” said junior Brady Nahlik, who wrote the ballad “To the Wood” with senior Amy McEvoy and junior Morgan McGinnis.

Junior Brian Lynch turned a song he had previously written for piano into his composition, using verses from the Bible for lyrics.

“It’s really uncomfortable…a weird feeling having the song sung while I’m in the room. But it’s a cool thing,” Lynch said.

While some students used lyrics from poems or verses from the Bible, senior Ted Hummel and juniors Abigail Davis and Bailey Hutton wrote original lyrics for the compositions.

“We got our inspiration from their cats,” Hutton said, pointing to Hummel and Davis. “It was a comical kitty melody called ‘Kitty Luv.’”

Another group whose music was inspired by the lyrics they wrote was seniors Collin Walker and Sandy Crowell and junior Korinne Lollar.

Their piece, titled “The House of Blues,” is about “an old singer leaving her old life,” Lollar said.

For seniors Trey Sauer and Jessica Schmidt, the lyrics were the easy part of the project.

“It was hard getting the right emotion from the music to represent the poem,” Sauer said.

Senior Michael Pizzini, who composed a piece using inspiration from composer Eric Whitacre’s work, said “[It’s difficult] making your words fall where they would fall when you speak.”

Pizzini added, “I enjoy hearing my piece come to life and its growth; its progress while it’s being sung and learned.”

Editors Note: The print version of this story, published on Thursday March 9,2012, featured an error. The original story stated that original songs were composed by the Chamber Singers choral group only. In fact, all EHS choral groups including Concert Choir I and II, composed original pieces for the concert. The Tiger Times regrets the error.