The harmonious sound of male and female voices drifts under the door of Mr. Jamie Marshall’s room. The chorus group encircles Ms. Michelle Jergenson, who play the piano. The guys stand on one side, and the girls on the other, organized from sopranos to tenors. This is the first time in 13 years that Falcon Voices has included boys, and with five now in chorus, the group can now take their vocals to the next level.

Including boys “has opened up a whole different palette of musical choices,” Marshall said. “Just to have that other voice [in the song] opens up a whole different area of music to explore,” he said.

Seniors Elizabeth Djinis and Griffin Guinta agreed.

“The songs we can sing [have changed] because we can finally sing love songs to each other, and we can sing duets,” she said.

“I think the blend is awesome,” Guinta added. “In music in general you can’t just have one particular range. You have to have a blend of all three [musical ranges] to create a really nice sound,” he said.

Senior Artie Brown said the dynamics of Falcon Voices have reformed, demonstrated by greater variety in the number of musical performances and the number of parts each person can sing.

“There is a lot more variety in the performances because it sounds different musically. You also get to sing a more parts of music so it’s a lot more complex. But that’s not to say it’s harder; it just makes it sound better,” he said.

An interest in singing and the desire to explore their fine arts credit options motivated several of the boys to participate in Falcon Voices.

Freshman Toby Chinwuba said since it was his first year in high school he wanted to explore the classes for his fine arts credit.

“I wanted to try something new and have a new experience,” he said.

Senior Joshua Kezar said he joined because he wanted to make the most out of his last year at Saint Stephen’s.

“I love to sing, and it is my senior year, so I figured, why not?” he said.

By participating in Falcon Voices, the young men hope others in the Upper School will follow.

Junior Brian Elliott said, “Because there haven’t been males in chorus group for a long time, our participation shows other males that we can do chorus and won’t be looked down upon. Maybe more males will join chorus next year,” he said. “We needed to take that first step.”