In honor of Black History Month, the choirs performed a virtual concert featuring composers of color on March 12, which can still be viewed on YouTube! 

From Concert Choir to Select Choir to even the middle school choir, the students used their voices in February to recognize Black composers. The songs featured in February’s concert included “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” “We Shall Overcome,” “I Believe” and more, all powerful pieces that hold a place in Black history.

In the month of March, the concert choir sang in honor of Women’s History Month. 

There was more being conducted behind the scenes during preparation by choir director Mrs. Alison Lagan. In addition to the virtual concert, Mrs. Lagan incorporated in-class activities for Black History Month, and is doing the same thing now for Women’s History Month.

At the start of each class, Mrs. Lagan began with a short presentation of a composer, including their backgrounds, works, achievements and a snippet of a song they composed. Every day in February, a Black composer was presented, and all throughout March, a female composer was presented. Some classical choir composers featured were Mark Miller, Adolphus Hailstork and Ysaye Barnwell for Black History Month, and Amanda Quist, Dr. Linda Hasseler and Alice Parker for Women’s History Month.

Each choir student also received the opportunity to do the same. In February, students were assigned a Black composer to research and present to the rest of their class, furthering their understanding of the lives and legacies of composers of color.

Freshman Sadie Van-Tassel said she loved this choir experience. 

She said, “Learning about Black and women composers was a really valuable experience. More diverse voices and people need to be acknowledged, and this did just that. I learned about many musicians that I would not have known about if we didn’t do this. It was very interesting to have gotten briefed on a new person each day as well as going deep into exploring a specific person for my own research.”

There was no better time than this year to begin such a tradition. 

Mrs. Lagan said, “Over the past few years, I’ve been thinking a lot about diversity in choral repertoire and the lack of diverse programming in many schools and choral programs across the country. Coming to HH, I knew this was a void I wanted to fill and was excited at the opportunity to create a Black History Month tradition at Hatboro-Horsham.

“I also wanted to make an impact on more than just our choral singers, and a concert is a great way to share what we’ve learned with the greater HH community. Same goes for Women’s History Month– being a female choral conductor, I’m always actively searching for women composers to program with my students. These voices sometimes go unheard, and I think it’s important to share their accomplishments, stories and repertoire with whoever will listen!”

Over 400 friends and families in the Hatboro-Horsham community got together and watched the concert’s live premiere.

Junior Charlie Schultz said, “I think the Black History and Women’s History Month pieces have really brought out a lot of good things in choir. It’s a way we can all learn from others’ experiences, honor those who have struggled, and connect even in a COVID world. I’m really excited for next year when we can do this again but in person.”