At noon on Tuesday, the middle school treble choir met with the touring band Charly Bliss. The hour-long event featured the middle school beginning and treble choirs sharing their own songs, followed by a lively performance from Charly Bliss that captivated the young audience. At the end, the visiting band provided a Q and A session where the middle schoolers were able to ask the band about anything from favorite TV shows, to silly childhood memories.
After working on their song Nineteen which was released just this year in their album Guppy, SPA choir director Tim Kraack was able to get in contact and arrange a meeting with the power pop band as they made their cross country Forever and Ever Tour. Kraack has been listening to Charly Bliss since 2019 and after hearing ‘Nineteen,’ a song about youthful heartbreak and nostalgia, Kraack thought it would be a good fit for the middle school choir. “I saw that they were going to be here on tour… and I thought that I might as well try,” said Kraack, but getting them to come proved to be a challenging month-long affair.
Once they came: “they were really cool,” said Kraack. “It was really cool to see a band that I’ve been listening to making connections to the students that I work with,” said Kraack. The students were able to feel the professionalism of the musicians, which was a goal of Kraack’s: “the way that we interact with recorded music is very disposable… and for [the middle schoolers] to understand that there are a group of people that make the song is important,” said Kraack.
Sam Hendirck, the lead drummer of the band, thought that the opportunity the middle schoolers had to interact with the band was “amazing”: “I wish that when I was your age I had this experience.” He encouraged the middle schoolers to go after in all aspects of their lives, particularly the more discouraged creative fields.

During the Q and A song requests Hendirck shared, “It has never been easier to release and create music, so for people your age… just go for it.” He hopes that he was able to inspire the choir through his performance, and there were certainly some singers who felt the impact of his advice.
7th grade treble choir member Maxine Servaty loved hearing the lead singer Eva Hendricks’s story. Servaty was inspired by the fact that she started out chasing her passion so young: “I loved getting to meet her because she was just a kid and started writing music,” said Servaty.
Liv Klevan, another 7th grade treble choir member, was more inspired by the music itself: “I felt amazement [listening to her sing].” Klevan can’t wait to bring back the different emotions back to her singing of Nineteen. “She put more emphasis on different parts and I haven’t been doing that so it’s interesting and different to hear it sung live,” Klevan remarked.
The treble choir will perform “Nineteen” in their winter concert the Thursday before Christmas break and they hope to use the tips Charly Bliss was able to provide during their visit this Tuesday to improve and sing with the same intent as the creators of the song.