Voices United: Chamber Choir’s Retreat

On September 19th, Redwood Chamber Choir headed on their 3-day retreat. Every year, Chamber Choir devotes several days to spend time up at Hartland Christian camp. Located in the heart of the Sierras, the camp provides an opportunity for Chamber Choir to foster new relationships with one another.

By: Mallory Byl

Abigail Ogletree, ‘25, says the retreat is great to bond with new members. She says, “There’s all different people this year, because last year was a bunch of seniors, and now there’s a bunch of new sophomores. You get to know everyone, you learn everyone’s personality, it was fun.” 

Ogletree details the importance of creating bonds within the group. She says that if everyone doesn’t get along it can create a very different environment. Ogletree says, “Everybody creates this strong bond to create a better environment for us to sing all together, which helps a lot.”

Chamber Choir spent time playing gaga ball and paintball, as well as going on hikes and stargazing. These fun activities help them to bond and improve themselves as a group.

“We went up on a little hike and we looked at the constellations and sang ‘The Lord Bless You’ and ‘Keep You.” 

Emerson Minnick, ‘26, says, “We did around six hours of rehearsal each day. We played a lot of gaga ball. It’s fun because it’s a good group-bonding activity.”

Minnick says his favorite part of the trip was hanging out with the other tenors and getting to know each other.

“We did a lot of talking in the cabins, and getting to know each other, which helps build bonds. You sing better if you know each other better.”

Minnick says, “Our bus didn’t show up, but we got parents to give us a ride home. We ended up playing cards because we had extra time. Even though there was a bad thing that happened, we were still able to bond and grow from that.”

The retreat allowed for Redwood Chamber Choir to get to know their new members, and foster new relationships with each other, which allows them to improve their musical sound as a group.

Minnick says the purpose of the trip was to, “have a lot of extra time to not only grow as a choir and get to know each other, but also to grow as an individual, and understand your choirmates better.”

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