This Saturday Skidmore’s Rejoice Inspirational Choir is hosting their final show of the season in the Chapel! We sat down with Rejoice’s President and HC Skidmore contributor, Ella Goldthwaite, to get the lowdown on what you can expect from the show, and what it’s like to act as President of an on campus musical group.
Her Campus: First, can you introduce us to Rejoice? What kind of music can we be expecting to hear Saturday night?
Ella: Rejoice actually started as Skidmore’s gospel choir. We decided to change our name about a year and a half ago to better reflect what we do and who we are–we don’t want to claim gospel heritage for ourselves, because most of the choir’s current members don’t come from gospel roots. I would say the most defining feature of what we do as a choir is the uplifting tone of our music. We really want our music to be something people can identify with, so you’ll hear a lot of that!
HC: What is your favorite thing about being part of Rejoice?
EG: The community of this choir has been really important to me over the past three and a half years. We all really love and respect each other both as musicians and as people, and it makes our performances so much fun. I’ve met some really cool people through Rejoice that I definitely wouldn’t have without it, and being a part of such a loving and uplifting group has helped me through some tough times. That’s definitely also related to the power of the music we sing. We’re really open with each other through our music, and it brings us closer together.
HC: Tell us a little about the theme for this semester’s show, and what we have to look forward to!
EG: This semester our theme is “The Polar Express”! We really love having holiday-themed shows around this time of year. You can definitely look forward to cookies, as well as some super fun decorations!
HC: What song are you most proud of for this show? What song do you think we should be listening for?
EG: This is a tough one. We’ve definitely worked super hard on all of our songs, but I think the one I’m most proud of personally is a song called “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel.” It’s a classical choir piece, and it’s based on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible scriptures. We actually were introduced to it when we went to a gospel choir competition a few years ago and heard Syracuse University’s gospel choir do an incredible performance of it. I think we’re all proud of the sound we’ve achieved on this song especially. Another good one to look out for is our holiday song–it’s a medley that was arranged by our music director, Jobelle!
HC: What role do you play as President of Rejoice? How are you personally involved with the planning of the final show?
EG: As President, I take care of a lot of the logistical elements, like booking space, making sure everyone’s in the right place at the right time, keeping everyone on track during rehearsal…things like that. For this show, I’ve been really focused on making sure we’re putting together a show we’re all proud of, and continuing the process we started with our name change–making the choir a more responsible and inclusive part of our Skidmore community.
HC: Where else can we see you guys sing?
EG: This is our last show for this semester, but next semester we’ll definitely have plenty of performances. We’re already starting to plan our final show for the end of next semester, so don’t miss that!
The Rejoice Final show is Saturday 12/10 at 9pm in Wilson Chapel.