Providing an opportunity to learn new music and meet new people, the American Music Abroad program is a way for students to see new countries and grow musically.
The trip will begin in late June as students travel to Switzerland for their first performance.
Souderton music students have been preparing for a long time for their trip to Europe as a part of the American Music Abroad program, which gives U.S. students the opportunity to perform in different places. Junior Sarah Thomas said that the most exciting part about the program is the “experience” itself as well as the opportunity to connect with other musicians.
“I thought it was a really great opportunity to be able to sing with other kids from around the country,” Thomas said. “It [will be] an amazing opportunity to travel abroad and I’m really excited for it and just to be able to have that experience will be really cool.”
Junior Zach Gross is also excited for the experiences that will come with visiting the different countries.
“I was initially drawn to the AMA program because of its extensive trip around Europe,” Gross said. “Being able to sing and visit people in Germany, Hungary and Switzerland seems like such a unique opportunity that I didn’t want to pass up.”
In preparation for the trip, students have been rehearsing for the past couple of months as well as preparing their music on their own time.
Sophomore Elizabeth Hersek feels that learning the music individually has been a rewarding aspect of the program.
“We had a rehearsal last Sunday for four hours with our groups and then we won’t rehearse again until right before we go on the trip,” Hersek said. “The expectation is that you already know all of the music and you’ve been through all of it so I think it will strengthen me being able to learn music on my own.”
Junior Jackson Rohrbaugh also said that the experience will be different from that of a “regular choir” as they are performing the same few songs throughout the different places they are traveling to.
“We’re going to spend three days at Kutztown rehearsing the music and then we’ll leave for Europe and be gone for about three weeks performing in little towns throughout Western Europe,” Rohrbaugh said.
Similarly, junior Anya Hradnansky feels that the American Music Abroad program will give her an opportunity to perform at “beautiful [and] historic” locations while also helping her to grow in music.
“I’m very excited to travel out of the country for the first time to do something I am immensely passionate about,” Hradnansky said.
Thomas looks forward to “learning” from different conductors on the trip as well as people who teach music on a “bigger scale.”
“It will be cool to get a different perspective from somebody who does trips like this and is so used to this and is very well versed not only in American music but also European music and those different things,” Thomas said.