After getting up at 4 a.m., on March 26, 80 Orchestra and Choir students left for the weekend to perform at the Heritage Festival competition, in Chicago.

“Heritage Festival runs competitions throughout the United States in large cities,” choir teacher Eric Anthony said. “They’re competitions for music ensembles: choir, orchestra and band.”

Students got to decide whether to attend or not, and then from those who did attend, the teachers created ensembles and choirs.

“We generally take pick-up groups or students from multiple classes,” orchestra teacher Ed Sandheinrich said.

The music groups were a mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.

“I think choir is more of a social than a competitive thing,” Anthony said. “Music making should be.”

The orchestra used a game called Secret Stalker to bond and find out about the people that they would be working with.

“You picked a random name and you watched that person,” Sandheinrich said.  “At the end of the trip, you presented him or her with a small gift based on what you have seen.”

Senior Sarah Cange has kept the tradition going her entire four years of orchestra and her recent choir debut.

“I’ve been on these trips since I was a freshman and it’s always been something that we’ve done,” Cange said.

The students had a $5 limit to find a present for their person while they explored the city.

“[Chicago] was much bigger than Saint Louis. All the buildings were huge,” sophomore Andrew Deadwyler said. “It was overwhelming.”

The students saw a Blue Man Group performance, went up into the Willis Tower and ate at a restaurant called Medieval Times, while watching jousting in a huge arena.

“They feed you a whole feast, but they don’t give you utensils,” Cange said.

At the Willis Tower, which was previously known as the Sears Tower, they stood over the city seeing 50 miles out into 4 states.

“When I was on the sky deck looking out over the city, I started jumping and it caused everyone behind me to start screaming,” freshman Caroline Woodruff said.

The trip was not all just play; they had to work as well. On the way to Chicago, they participated in a clinic at Millikin University, where they were critiqued on their performance prior to the competition.

“It helped a lot,” junior Darion Ellison said. “It bettered our tone and quality tremendously.”

In the competition, instead of places there were rankings. The choir got a gold ranking, but first in the division that the choirs sang in. The orchestra received a silver ranking the second best for orchestra.