Choir Coffeehouse
A Night of Music: Treats & ‘Fun’-draising for the San Dimas Choral Department.
October 1, 2019
The San Dimas Choral Department kicks off their year of performances with Coffeehouse on Sept. 25.
When asked about what goes into putting on the event, Choir President, Tommy Napoli says, “My role at Coffeehouse is to keep everything organized and making sure everyone’s doing what they need to do.” The event is definitely all hands on deck for the department and singers from all three choirs are encouraged to participate in setting up for the event.
It’s not just about finding acts for the show, the event involves having treats provided by the SDHS culinary club and coffee, courtesy of Starbucks. In order to make sure all that gets ready, Napoli went on to say, “I’m not just involved in making sure the event is planned properly, but making sure we have our food and coffee too”.
Coffeehouse has a very interesting history at San Dimas. When asked about where the idea came from, Choir Director, Mr. Pugh says, “It was something that I used to do in college with my music club. I thought it was a cool idea and I felt it filled a need in our department.”
Last year, however, a different event, Bella Notte, was held in February instead of Coffeehouse. Mr. Pugh went on to state, “We wanted to try Bella Notte out last year to see how it went, but now we have to do Coffeehouse by popular demand. We’d like to do both Bella Notte and Coffeehouse this year.” He sees the department continuing to host shows such as Coffeehouse and Bella Notte in the future.
For the choir department, Coffeehouse is a show where talented students get to audition with songs they normally wouldn’t sing for a regular choir concert. Both Mr. Pugh and Napoli, feel this is the reason why Coffeehouse is such a great opportunity for singers. Mr. Pugh says, “I just hope that the students get to feel accomplished. That they get to go out and sing music that makes them happy.” For Napoli, he hopes that “We come out a more inclusive choir. I just want everyone to feel included and a part of this. I think Coffeehouse is one of the best ways for our department to accomplish that.”