Photo by Ella Haun
In the past, Pinewood’s musical groups have traveled almost every year to sing in other states and even other countries. After not going on a choir trip since the beginning of lockdown back in 2020, Pinewood Singers and Women’s Chorus visited Oahu, Hawaii, over this past spring break as the first choir trip in two years.
Choir Director and trip manager Katie Linza organized the trip so that students had the opportunity to bond with each other, explore new cultures, and perform for a wide range of audiences.
“It is such a wonderful experience to go somewhere else, meet different people, and learn about their culture and traditions,” Linza said. “It also opens our eyes as well as our ears to the music of other people and it’s just really fun to share our own music with other people from different places.”
Magnolia Lemmon, a member of Pinewood Singers and a cappella group Take Note, saw this trip as a chance to come together and perform.
“This is a really nice opportunity to get together and sing for people and I think that these trips are really great to become more connected as a choir,” Lemmon said.
The choir performed the following songs at Pearl Harbor and another small venue in Oahu: “Bottom of the River” by Eric and Ian Hölljes, “Son de Camagüey” by Stephen Hatfield, “I Sing Because I’m Happy” by Civilla Martin and Charles Gabriel, “Tarekita” by Craig Johnson, “What a Wonderful World” by Bob Thiele and George Weiss and “That Old Feeling” by Chet Baker.
“Our songs are all very rhythmic and they are all focused on a variety of cultures,” Lemmon said.
The choir also learned various songs from native Hawaiian culture, including “Aloha Oe” by Queen Lili‘uokalani, “Lili‘u Ē” by Herb Mahelona and “Nani Na Pua Ko‘olau” by Queen Lili‘uokalani to perform in a workshop they attended to learn more about Hawaiian traditional music.
“One of the main reasons why we travel is to experience other cultures, and I think it is really important that when we visit another place, we take a little bit of time to learn about that culture,” Linza said.
Bringing the choir closer together, the trip not only gave students an opportunity to enjoy their time with each other, but also to experience new places and people as a community.