Music brings people together, and one thing Mount Carmel High School currently lacks is a choir. While the school excels in sports and has some academic strengths, it does not yet have a formal choir for students to share their voices.
The October 1 all-school Mass in the main gym showed MC that when students sing in the choir, it makes the celebration sound and feel more meaningful. MC having a choir as an extracurricular could uplift school spirit, have a more engaging Mass service, and give students a new way to express themselves.
A choir at MC would strengthen the school spirit and unity by giving students a shared artistic purpose other than academics and sports. Mr. KC Perlberg, who teaches music courses at MC, runs the Drama Club, and works with Studiums who volunteer to act as a choir at school masses, is ready to evolve the MC music department even more than he has. To begin, he emphasized the enthusiasm students should bring to a choir.
“I think it’d be great,” says Mr. Perlberg. “There are a lot of guys here who would like to do something like that and would be pretty good at it.”
Students already have an interest in a choir. He also highlighted how MC is unique because it is an all boys school.
“Having the opportunity, being an all-boys school, to have an all boys choir is a really exciting thing,” said Mr. Perlberg.
A choir could create an inclusive and welcoming environment where students feel comfortable expressing themselves. Sophomore Hunter Hawkins would welcome the addition of a choir at MC.
“Because I like singing, and I think it would be cool to come together and have a production,” says Hawkins.
The desire to make music together is nothing new at MC. Mr. John Stimler recalls a time when the school’s theater program brought that same creative energy to life.
“We had a really strong musical [in the theater program] when I started 18 years ago that was kind of what was left of our music program,” says Mr. Stimler. “These were major productions, 50 students, and a lot of people from other schools that would come.”
The annual school musical was one of the last ways students were able to share their voices. Some students want there to be a choir, and it can help boost school spirit by giving them a voice at MC.
Students singing at Mass would both boost participation and give more life to the school Mass. Mr. Perlberg currently coordinates with the Studiums who volunteer to sing at Mass, though an outside musician still leads the music.
“We bring in an outside guy right now to do all that for us, and he does an awesome job,” says Mr. Perlberg, referring to Mr. Joe Labozetta. “Mass feels more significant when [the students are] the ones providing the ministry.”
Choir would deepen the engagement level and also the connection to the Masses. Mr. Stimler has similar views on who should be doing what at Mass.
“We don’t throw that (singing) to Joe Labozetta, and he’s got a great voice,” says Mr. Stimler. “We have students who have good voices, too.”
He remembers one particular moment that showed just how powerful student-led music can be.
“We always had a student who would do a solo for ‘Oh Holy Night,’ ” he recalls. “It would blow people away. Like, wow, this is amazing that we have students who have these kinds of voices.”
Bringing back a choir could make students more engaged and feel school spirit. Junior Aaron Hyler, who sings in his church choir, reflected on how student involvement could improve Mass.
“I think that Mass is way better because it is more engaging,” says Hyler. “The songs are more up-tempo.”
Students like Hawkins also see the bigger picture. A choir, he believes, wouldn’t just make Mass better. It would also strengthen the school’s reputation and its sense of community.
“It would encourage more people from outside the schools to come [to Mass] if they could hear us sing,” he says. A choir would make Mass more engaging, meaningful, and enjoyable for the whole school community.
A similar transformation has already taken place at Leo High School, located on Chicago’s South Side, which is an example of how a choir can boost a school’s community. The Leo choir performs at school Masses and assemblies, but it has also represented the school at major city events and was on the national stage in the popular TV show America’s Got Talent. The choir has become a source of pride for the Leo community, and they can be confident to go out and sing for others, showing how music can bring a sense of family and unity even beyond the classroom.
“It has been great watching [Leo’s choir] as a family,” Mr. Stimler says. “It has inspired them and been such a bonding experience for the whole school and a sense of pride for Leo, and I think music has the ability to do that.”
With Leo’s choir as an example, MC could develop a choir that embodies the same brotherhood and school spirit. A dedicated student choir could help MC find its own musical identity and help students with their faith and creativity. Seeing how much Leo’s choir has done for the students, some students at MC wonder what a similar program could do for their own community.
“I think having a choir would bring a lot of people out of their comfort zone,” says Hawkins. “People who don’t sing often might be good at singing.”
That willingness to step forward and try something new, Hyler believes, is what makes MC special.
“I think we have the capability to do anything; we are the Caravan,” he says. “We are going to be great at whatever we do.”
A choir would help students explore their interests in the music department. Allowing young men to explore their talents, just as Leo High School can inspire students through music, MC’s voice can rise higher if there is a choir.
