The Major Works Choir Concert was held Mon., Feb. 23. It is an annual concert and is held at the Bethany Lutheran Church every year. The Major Work’s purpose is mainly to showcase the Men’s, Advanced Women’s, and Symphonic Choirs’ work in a building with world-class acoustics.

During the performance, director James Techau made the announcement that the song “Ode to the Soul” was created by junior Jordan Hanely and senior Eric Paricio. The five minute long song was then performed by the Symphonic Choir.

Hanely wrote the lyrics, which originally started out as a poem.

“I wanted to write [the poem] because I was thinking to myself ‘what exactly is a soul?’” Hanely said. “’What is its definition according to me? Is it good, or bad? Something we’re born with, or something we make through our lives?’”

What had originally started as a quest for some constructive criticism turned into an impromptu poetry reading. After hearing Hanely’s poem, Techau encouraged him to read it to the class.

“I had no clue that it could even be turned into a song,” Hanely said. “When I brought it to Techau, I was thinking, ‘he’s a choir teacher, so he must have good knowledge of words and lyrics. Maybe he can give me some constructive criticism on how I can make it better.’”

Techau made a comment to the class, suggesting that Hanely’s poem would make a wonderful song if paired to some music, and Paricio jumped on the opportunity to compose it.

“[Eric Paricio] approached me after I read the poem to the choir and said, ‘would you mind if I gave that some music?’ and I gave it to him,” Hanely said. “Out of nowhere during the break I got a text that said, ‘It’s done. :)’”

Flash forward a few months, and the original piece, “Ode to the Soul,” made its debut at the Major Works Choir Concert.

“When I heard it, all I could think is ‘these are my words. I made this text.’ That feeling never left me even as we sang it in the concert,” Hanely said. “It was amazing to hear something that I made be put into beautiful music being sung to a crowd of around 150 people.”