When February rolls around and Valentine’s Day slowly approaches, Los Altos High School’s students can reliably expect one thing: a choir bursting into their classrooms and belting love songs a cappella.
Valentine’s serenades, a yearly tradition done by the Los Altos High choir department, allow students to purchase five-dollar serenades of various songs to be sung to their peers during class. Whether it be last year’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” or this year’s “BIRDS OF A FEATHER,” the choir brings all kinds of musical options to embarrass or swoon fellow students.
These serenades are usually performed by the choir department’s most advanced class, Volare, but have started to include other audition choir classes in more recent years, according to Los Altos High choir teacher Lauren Diez. The serenades also provide fundraising for the choir department.
“[The serenades] are a lot of work, but they are always worth it,” said Diez. “It’s just a lot of fun to see everyone going around and the joy that it brings people.”
This year’s musical options are “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish; “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder; “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole; and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley. The serenades run on Feb. 12 and 13. During those days, the choir department will go to classrooms and sing to students who had a serenade bought for them.
“I think it’s cool to see things beyond all the bigger [choir] performances,” said Los Altos High senior Sophie Yung, who witnessed a serenade by the choir department last year in one of her classes. “It’s so cool to see the arts just casually around campus.”
The serenades also allow for Los Altos High students to get an insight into the choir classes and learn more about what their department does. According to Diez, musically inclined students enjoy moments when the serenades are performed in their classrooms and often give positive feedback on the music.
“People have a lot of assumptions about the type of music that we do [in choir],” Diez said. “I like [students] being able to get out and perform music for people on a more intimate basis. They can see we do a really wide variety of music, and that [choir] is a great community.”
Choir students echo the same sentiment. According to Los Altos High senior Caila Kim, the serenades are one of the most direct ways for the choir community to share and connect with the student body.
“We’re all just hanging out, singing and connecting through music,” Kim said. “ … I really love the joy that I get to share with other people.”
