Professor David Fryling conducting the GCHS Concert Choir Dr. Fryling immediately caught the attention of the large Concert Choir at the Garden City High School as he de-manded the student singers do a string of exercises in which they had to pay close attention to and repeat the many nuances of vocal sounds. He not only commanded attention, but in this manner, he made learning enjoyable. Once everyone was loosened up, he shaped the sound. "The last two notes of any phrase belong to the en-semble, so make them ridiculously unified", he said. The difference between a youthful or adult sounding choir is mostly in the vowels the singers choose. After they were aware of vocal "color", they sounded much improved.

The vocal exercises were followed by two contrasting pieces the students have been working on. The first is "Earth Song" by Frank Ticheli. This is a beautiful, soft harmonic piece which Dr. Fryling compared to a pastel painting of colors blending together. The second is a lively piece called "Yo Le Canto Todo El Dia" by David Brunner. In this exciting piece, he explained that the reason the words suddenly drop off and are replaced by "la,la,la" is to express the sheer joy of the music beyond words.

It was a delight having Dr. Fryling at the school. The program ended all too soon!

This program was coordinated by the Arts in Education Committee of the Garden City School District Parent Teacher Association funded by the Garden City Union Free School District.

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