Becoming More Than An Ordinary Choir

I believe that as a choir, we should be able to demonstrate our versatility in singing all forms of songs and genres, not only Christian songs in the church sanctuary. We should also be able to showcase our wide vocal range and push our singing capabilities beyond what we are currently capable. Then, we are able to shine brighter in this world.

I recently discovered a few wonderful choir pieces which are either very unusual or outstanding. They might not be typical church choirs, but its all about performance. Enjoy!

1. SMKB Choir - National Winner of 2005 National Choir Competition
This team represented the Sarawak team in 2005, when I was in my school's choir team. We only got as far as the district level, but our choir teacher showed us the national winner. There is a distinct voice of a girl singing in the background, it could be the camerawomen trying to sing with the choir... Remember that this is only a school choir.

2. The Hollywood Film Chorale Sound Effects Choir - Honda Advertisement UK 2006
Also known as plain 'Honda Choir', the amazing team directed by Steve Sidwell did an amazing job on the replication of sounds.

3. Nintendo Acapella Medley
Imagine all the background music (BGM) from the Nintendo classics like Super Mario Bros., Dr. Mario, Tetris, Mortal Kombat and Zelda, all done by an acapella assemble. Impressively original and entertaining. Pay attention to Tetris especially, hillarious!!!

4. Animated Gospel Choir - Britain's Got Talent
Puppet choir, pure genius! This proves that there is more than one medium to present a choir.

5. Oh Happy Day - Sister Act 2
This video list would be imcomplete without an extract from the movie Sister Act 2 starring Whoopi Goldberg. The main boy is Ryan Toby, acting as 'Ahmal' James, and he was only 16 years old when he hit the E6+ whistle note register. Currently, he is working more as a songwriter, composing songs for Usher and the likes.

6. One Winged Angel - The Black Mages
This would probably be the most well-known choir pieces amonst young children and teens. This was originally a final boss theme song from the popular Playstation 1 game Final Fantasy VII, and the singing part was done by a synthesizer. The Black Mages, a popular Japanese rock band, did their own interpretation of this song with a rock twist and a real life choir. This would be the ideal song to use to reach out to high school children.