Choir Tour 2013

On April 17-23, Payson High School Concert and Chamber Choirs traveled to San Diego, California, for the annual choir tour.  Students met at the school at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17 and arrived back at the school at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.  The long bus rides were exhausting.  Although the seats were comfortable for sitting, sleeping did not come easily to most.  We were glad to be going to San Diego and when it was over, we were glad to come home.

            We had 2 clinics while in California.  John Byun and Dr. Jackson helped the choir have more energy and more fun they sang their songs for them.  They gave choir members great tips about how to sound better. 

While on choir tour, different religions and cultures were experienced.  On Thursday, the choir toured the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. There we learned more about Catholicism and saw the different chapels and the beautiful stained glass windows.  We took the opportunity to sing all throughout the cathedral; it had great acoustics.

            On Friday morning, choir members got to look around the Mission de Alcala and again sang in the chapel.  Friday evening, we attended a choir concert at Point Loma University.  The university’s choir was very talented.  They sang a few gospel songs.  It was cool to see how they enthusiastically praised God.

Choir students attended the opera, Aida, on Saturday night.  Most students could not keep themselves awake because of the many activities they had already participated in.  For those who stayed awake, the opera was a new, cool experience.

Sunday was a busy day, from attending the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the morning and an LDS Sacrament Meeting in the afternoon.  Songs were sung for the congregations.  It was interesting to see the differences between the 2 churches and cool to participate in both.  All of the people were very kind.  The Presbyterians invited us to their luncheon after the meeting.  The day ended with songs at a rest home.  The people were very appreciative of us. It was nice to make other people feel good.

Monday was just a fun day to spend time with friends at SeaWorld.  The weather was amazing and most of us came back with sunburns.  We went on roller coaster rides, bought souvenirs, and saw all kinds of sea animals and shows.

“The sea lion show was amazing,” said Sharalyn Farnsworth.

The best part of choir tour was being together for five days.  We learned more about each other and built deeper friendships with each other.  Learning about different religions and cultures helped us to be more accepting of each other.

“I thought choir tour helped a lot with unity because we got to see the side of people we don’t usually see and it helped us open up and connect in a way that we haven’t before,” said Jessica Staheli.