Through their numerous performances displaying their harmonic talent, Chandler High’s own Choir Club has cemented themselves as our school’s most skillful vocalists. But after years of presenting their expertise, its members have decided to lend the mic to other musicians looking to showcase their abilities.
Choir Club hosted their first Open Mic event of the 2024-2025 school year on Wednesday, August 29, 2024, in the Jones Student Union during both lunches.
Choir Club’s Open Mic is a recurring set of performances starring all kinds of musical artists here in the CHS community. Anyone, whether it be an instrumentalist, a singer, or any kind of artist in-between can play or sing their hearts out to an audience of fellow students. In the first event of the season, the lineup featured an enthralling mix of performances of varying genres and tones. From pensive and smooth R&B to the sharp and thrilling shrills of metal, these tunes did not disappoint.
One performer, Zaire Brown, chose to cover John Legend’s song “Nervous”. Relaxing in the courtyard after his performance, Brown explained his song choice: “It was my favorite song at the moment. For some reason, it just connected with me.” Brown has lived his whole life engrossed in music, whether it be singing along to his favorite tunes or becoming immersed within the soulful melody of his church’s choir. But “Nervous” had struck a chord within him, igniting the smoldering flares of his passion to sing into a blaze. When Brown heard about this Open Mic event over the daily announcements, he jumped at the opportunity to sing for an audience. And sing he did, captivating the JSU’s attendees with his tranquil and wistful tone. After receiving a reverberating round of applause, Brown stuck around to see the rest of the performances through. “I wanna say that everyone I saw and heard at the performance was extremely talented,” Brown said. “People at Chandler High are exceptional. They just gotta keep doing what they’re doing.”
While both performers and audience members seemed highly appreciative of this opportunity, it was only through the hard work of Choir Club members like Dominic Domenico that the event was held at all. Domenico explained that he found himself in Choir Club after being involved in many of CHS’ musical classes and clubs throughout his entire high school career: “[I] wanted to get better at singing.” Domenico and his fellow performers wanted to give students on campus a space to perform, he explained, sitting at a keyboard after the performances had finished. “We had [an Open Mic] last year in December,” Domenico recalled, “and we saw the value in it. But it didn’t work out as much as we planned, so we fine-tuned some things and restarted it.” The piano’s charming melody echoed through the Jones Student Union as Domenico glanced at the array of musical instruments beside him. He smiled from ear to ear, laughing: “It was really good, I did not expect people to sing as much as they did.”
Choir Club hopes to hold more Open Mic events throughout the year, serving not only as an entertaining lunchtime concert for visitors to the JSU, but as an opportunity for all of Chandler High’s musical performers to present their talents.
