Choral music is such an essential part of the holiday spirit that it has become a winter tradition over the years to listen to choirs as they cheerfully sing bright carols.

This holiday season, the tradition of caroling returns to Cal High when the school’s choir hosts its annual holiday concert on  Dec. 10 in the school’s theater. The show starts at 7 p.m., and it will feature some of the greatest songs from various holiday celebrations.

Tickets are $5. Snacks and refreshments are included in the cost.

The choir is led by the charismatic teacher Nicholas Patton, who started teaching as a vocal assistant in 2005. He is in his third year of teaching Cal’s choir.

“What inspired me to start teaching choir is when I was involved in performing and directed a musical in 2010 at the middle school level, I knew this is where I wanted to be,” said Patton.

The choir consists of Cal students from all grade levels. To join choir, these students had to first audition for the class.

“I auditioned because I enjoy music, wanted to learn how to sight read, and wanted to improve my vocal abilities,” said senior Nick Escobar.

Once accepted, students are divided into different sections of the choir based on skill level. The three levels are Concert Choir, Treble Choir and Chamber Singers.

These choirs are then broken down into subgroups based on vocal range. Subgroups include categories such as sopranos, the highest female voice, and basses, the lowest male voice.

After everyone is divided into their proper roles, it’s time to get to work.

“First, we warm up to see where our voices are at, and then [Mr. Patton] tells us what we are working on,” said junior Brooke Brandenburg. “Then, we normally split off into our different parts: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.

“We we work on getting our part,” Brandenburg continued. “Then, we come back in and sing it a few times through with everyone to lock in our part.”

Overall, choir is a fun class where singing enthusiasts of all grade levels can get together with fellow students to perform a variety of challenging but intriguing musical pieces. Classmates bond together under Patton’s strong leadership to create truly wonderful musical arrangements.

“People should join choir because you make awesome music, create friends for life, it’s a great place to be, and we have a lot of fun,” said Patton.

The choir’s talent was on full display on Nov. 14, the night of the choir’s first Renaissance Concert.

This concert featured a mix of several exceptional musical pieces from various decades, performed in front of a small, exclusive audience in the Cal gym.

All three choirs were in attendance, often splitting off from each other to perform individual choir songs.

The choirs would also band together to do group pieces, such as an interpretation of “Bring Me Li’l Water Silvy”, a folk song written by Huddie Leadbetter in 1935.

The main event, however, is the holiday concert.

Set to be performed in front of a much larger audience, it will be hosted in the school’s theater.

“The holiday concert will have just chamber and treble choirs, and we will be singing many different Christmas and Hanukkah songs,” said sophomore Kristiana Nestler.

This holiday season, students who find themselves wanting some great choral caroling need to look no farther than theater next week with choir’s annual concert. It should be a great way to get in the holiday spirit.