Lovell choir students perform and record at Disneyland

Last week, Lovell High School’s Fine and Performing Arts Program sent a group of 18 music students to perform at Disneyland. The students varied in classes from show choir, jazz choir and concert choir.

The idea of traveling and performing was brought up at the end of the 2023-24 school year. In the past they had gone to places such as New York and Hawaii, but this group of kids wanted to try something different. There was lots of interest in the Disneyland program, so they decided to do it. They spent the ‘24-25 school year fundraising, doing things such a silent auction, pick-a-date for donations and their popular fall carnival.

Because of the varying classes, the group had to spend many out-of-school hours practicing and perfecting their performance. They had to learn seven songs and put choreography to it. Their songs varied from classic Disney songs to popular 80’s music.

The group flew to Disneyland on June 2 and performed Tuesday, June 3, at California Adventure for the Imagination Campus Program. The program also had many other high school groups performing throughout the day. On Wednesday, they had the opportunity to meet Vangie Gunn, a famous session singer on multiple projects such as “Phineas and Ferb” and “A Bug’s Life,” to studio record the choir members’ voices over clips from movies.  

When they were not performing, they had plenty of time to enjoy Disneyland and California Adventure.

Trip president Ella Spanier shared about preparing for the trip, “We spent so much time preparing and learning, and it was all quite stressful but so worth it. I got the opportunity to be the choreographer for all the songs and put the set list together, but it was so much fun to put moves to words. I was also grateful for the flexibility of putting the show together and being able to have my friends help me along the way, as well as the class being able to have a say in the songs we sang.” 

Choir Director Carisa French noted about the trip experience, “It was a whirlwind trip, but it was so fun and so worth the year and half of planning and fundraising. I used to say I would never do it again because it was so much work, but now that I’ve done it I would absolutely do it again and I would make it longer.

“I cannot imagine a better group of kids. They were kind to each other and appreciative. They performed as a show choir even though only a handful were actually in show choir. We had a good group that traveled along with us, but we were lucky to have a lot of people in the park stop and watch us perform. People who were working also said how much they enjoyed it when we were done. This experience singing in Disney and getting to do a recording studio workshop was so awesome. The students were able to have a great time, and they had great experiences. The workshop is unique to Disney, so I’m extremely pleased our kids got to do it.”

There will be a chance to see the group perform their Disneyland set live during Mustang Days on Friday, June 27, at 5:15 p.m. at the new amphitheater at Armory Park.