This year, Taejon Christian International School (TCIS) hosted the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) Choir Festival, with American International School of Guangzhou, Brent Internal School of Manila, Hong Kong International School, Concordia International School, and United Nations International School during November 17-19, under the theme of "Come to the Music."

APAC Choir is not like the other APAC "competitions." It's a festival where all the choirs in the APAC division join to perform together, instead of trying to out-do each other. Shocking. I know. An APAC with no competition? You might be thinking, isn’t that the whole point of all the schools gathering? Trying to prove who is better? How APAC Choir, amazingly, works without any competition is actually quite simple. All high school choirs, obviously, have teachers. They are not just teachers though. They are directors of each high school’s choir. During APAC Choir, the schools choose and bring an experienced choir director to, basically, direct all the high school kids gathered on their given songs.

Now, just like all other sports, singing needs practicing. You also have to read music, just like how you have to read a book to pass in a given class. Before the actual APAC week, starting around when the Fall sports season started, people auditioned for the APAC Choir spot and met twice a week till D-Day to practice their given songs before meeting with the, will say, the Supreme court, aka the director. Each school had their own choice of two songs they were going to perform separately at the APAC concert besides the other five songs that all the schools did together under the director. 

The concert overall was a resounding success. The choirs could have done better, but it was their attitude which mattered. According to all the kids, it was the one of the most fun experience they have ever had. As a matter of fact, a Facebook group for this 2011 APAC Choir was created as a matter of few hours later it ended.

I had an interview with Ms. Mary Kubala, the TCIS’s choir teacher, who was also the accompanist throughout all the rehearsals and also spend a great amount of time organizing the APAC Choir to be in our school. She is from Indiana State and this is her second year at TCIS. “Everyone is so supportive of each other and I love the community here.” We got to talk a little bit about the choir program in our school. She commented on how the choir has gotten a lot better from last year. But she does want a more balanced choir meaning balanced number of different parts of the choir and how she could use some more sopranos. She also said the APAC Choir program this year is “just wonderful” besides the fact that they do have a bad habit of talking all the time after they tried out a piece of the music.