By Rachel Dinh

Imagine that you’ve been invited to tour all of Spain for three weeks. No that’s not all; you’ll also be traveling as a renowned member of the Phoenix Boys Choir. Preston Smith, eighth grader at Tempe Prep, was fortunate enough to experience this.

Phoenix Boys Choir is a rigorous singing group that practices two hours for two days a week. PBC accepts any boy from the age of 6 to 10 and consists of a hierarchy of singing levels: Training, Cadet, Town, and Tour. Boys are placed into a level according to their singing experience when they first join. As they improve, they move up to the higher levels, such as Town and Tour.

Preston joined Training when he was 7 years old. After many years of practicing, he is now in the Tour group, which means he can travel to distant countries and spread the choir’s repertoire.

When asked what activities the choir did in Spain, Preston replied, “We visited lots of cities in Spain including Madrid, Barcelona, and Seville. Our tour guide brought us to a bunch of museums and landmarks. My favorite museum contained a sculpture that Michelangelo reconstructed. I loved meeting foreigners and seeing all the beautiful churches.”

But the trip wasn’t just a fun three-week vacation without parents, awesome foreign food, and amazing sights. The choir would hold one-hour concerts in cathedrals almost every day. Preston recalls, “We had a ton of music to study. But it was worth it, because every concert, except for one exception, was applauded by full-house audiences. And sometimes, traveling with a 33-person choir can be exhausting, because some of the boys are really rowdy and not fun to be with.”

Some of his most memorable moments included trying flan (Spanish dessert) for the first time, buying fake daggers with his friends, and overall, just singing with the whole choir. Next year, when Preston is 14 years old, he will be able to join the Men’s Choir, which only accepts boys who have graduated from the Phoenix Boys Choir.

As a final note, Preston says, “Doing choir is really rewarding. I’m glad to graduate from this choir and leave something good behind.”