The school’s student body brings love and vocals into the season of Valentines, selling their classic singing grams to students with a variety of songs to perform to their loved ones Friday, Feb. 13.
“Valentine’s singing grams are a $5 dollar gram you can buy,” said senior president of Acapella Aria Dubrino. “The members of my club come to your class and sing a quick song to you and give you your paper gram with its hand written message on it.”
The school’s different vocal groups, such as local vocals and choir among others, get together with American Sign Language (ASL) club students to make these displays of love exciting and accessible to not only those receiving grams, but others who enjoy watching them. The list of songs range from old hits like Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley to newer songs like My Love Mine All Mine by singer Mitski.
“It takes about a day to get everything situated and separated by group; we can usually do it in an afternoon,” Aria Dubrino said. “Once everything is sold we all sit down together and assign everyone their grams. However, before everything is sold, we have to pick the songs, make the groups, and put the songs in their proper arrangements- which takes about a week.”
The groups spend time perfecting their performances to make sure that each song they sing and perform is perfect for the person that they are singing for. Even if the actual song only last a few minutes, they want to make sure it’s memorable. Constantly singing the same few songs throughout the day may seem tiring, but the admiration they receive from students and teachers alike makes it worthwhile.
“Over the years we have added fun accessories to match the song,” Dubrino said, ”or even light choreography to make them more memorable.”
Although the delivery of a singing gram only takes a few minutes they want to make sure it is enjoyable for everyone who is involved . Every detail, from picking what songs to sing to learning the little dances plays a big role in making the performances successful. The talented singers use their skills for good, allowing students to have a chance to feel appreciated by their special loved ones.
“I really love how I can make people smile through our singing,” said senior Charlotte Krause. “It’s so much fun to see the different reactions and really make their day.”
