This year’s spring choral “It Gets Better” has an anti-bullying message

Nicholas Corey, Staff Writer

May 12, 2015

Tim Mascarinas, a Sacramento State student practicing at ARC, conducts the chamber choir at the rehearsal for their performance “It Gets Better”.

American River College’s Chamber Singers and Concert Choir is slated to perform no less than 13 songs at their concert Wednesday. Doors will open at 7 p.m.

“It Gets Better,” is going to be conducted by professor Ralph Hughes.

The songs vary from Dolly Parton’s “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” performed by ARC’s chamber choir, to the concert choir’s rendition of “Epitaph for Moonlight” by R. Murray Schafer.

“It Get’s Better,” promotes an anti-bullying message inspired by Dan Savage’s YouTube campaign of the same name, which is aimed at encouraging LGBT youth.

Professor Hughes recently attended a seminar hosted by Savage at the University of California, Davis. The seminar gave him the inspiration for the theme of the spring choral.

Songs like “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” are set to be performed by chamber choir. The song spoke specifically to bass singer Gabe Catabran.

“No matter how tough your day may be, today is what you make of it and remember that there is a tomorrow,” said Catabran.

Kassie Rivera, a soprano for ARC’s chamber choir, had a difficult time fitting in at high school. She thinks everyone can benefit by giving the concert a listen.

“Wish it would’ve been here when I was 15,” said Rivera, who is now in her fifth semester singing choir at ARC. Rivera is in both concert and chamber choir this semester, and has performed for the Sacramento Master Singers, also conducted by professor Hughes.

“It Gets Better,” has a message that affects those who never dealt with bullying first hand either, like chamber choir singer Sierra Savage.

“The songs seemed cheesy at first, but once you get to practicing them, talking about them, you realize you can relate in tragedy,” said Savage.

Bass singer Aaron Gardner first saw professor Hughes performed for his class in high school in order recruit band members for ARC.

After seeing the performance Gardner was encouraged to join the chamber choir to help push the bounds of his singing.

“Pessimism makes everything worse and I knew it would eventually get better,” Gardner said.