There is nothing more audibly beautiful to a singer than the short echo which reverberates after the final song of a choir concert, filling all the space of the auditorium. There's something electrifying about hearing your voice resonate back to you at the end of a performance.

After five weeks of work, Century's Concert Choir recently gave its first performance of the school year, and the ending, with its exhilarating resonance, is evidence of all the energy we've put forth into what is not only a class, but a family of music.

In the past few years, Century's choir family has been working on not only learning music but learning how to deal with change. In all of the three years that I've been a member, I've had three different directors, each with their own quirks (as many directors develop) and flair. Although one wouldn't think switching teachers from year to year would be very difficult -- for some classes we change instructors every semester -- there are several difficulties that take place when a music director is changed.

Because pretty much the same people are in choir every year, the year begins like any normal class would after getting back from winter break, picking up where it left off. This family reunion becomes more difficult when the parent is changed, but this challenge has proved to only strengthen our group as we've helped our new directors get to know us and they've brought us new perspective on the art of choral performance. And so far, I've been very impressed with each new director's attitude as they've been plunged into the very scary world of a class of more than 60 very loud teenagers.

And who wouldn't be scared? We bicker and tease each other like siblings, and we love using our voices so much that we find it difficult to stay quiet in between singing. We forget our socks, cummerbunds and bowties on the day of a concert (this is directed toward the male singers), and tend to have a bias toward our own section when the "Best Section" award is given at the end of the year.

We also are heavily dedicated to learning our music, holding sectionals once a week outside of school where singing and laughter share equal parts of vocal usage. We have a retreat every year where we strive to get to know new members and learn more about older singers with games, skits and even a city-wide scavenger hunt.

We work extremely hard to make sure all of the organizational and technical class stuff gets taken care of, with officers such as two presidents, a junior and senior treasurer, a librarian, two PR representatives, a secretary, eight section leaders, student directors, pop choir managers, a crew dedicated to moving risers and setting up equipment, as well as several committees formed to decorate, set up and take down for concerts. These people do everything from keeping track of accounts for the tour we go on every year to taking attendance, handing out music, dealing with microphones, typing up newsletters, making posters, and even opening up their homes to have people come over to learn music.

This all leads up to concert night, where energy levels are at an all-time maximum. Whether we feel that we completely rocked every song, or failed miserably at staying on pitch, memorizing words or hitting every cue, there's always a feeling of pride that comes at the end of a performance in knowing that we put forth every bit of effort.

Anyone can feel it when that last chord rings back to the risers from the back of the auditorium.

Carlie Ruffalo is a senior at Century High School. To respond to an opinion column, send an e-mail to life@postbulletin.com.

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