If campus seems a bit more crowded to you this weekend you wouldn’t be wrong.

Tomorrow morning 14 different high school choir groups will arrive to take part in the 21st annual “WSU Choral Festival,” an event that will go on throughout the entire day starting 9 a.m. and finishing about 7 p.m.

The performance was started years ago when high school directors were asked what they were looking for in a festival and almost unanimously agreed they wanted something in the fall to kick-start the year, said Lori Wiest, director of choral activities at WSU.

“The goal is making music and working together,” she said.

The high school students and their directors will have plenty of opportunities to do both as they take part in workshops after their performances that are designed to improve their talents.

The workshops will be led by choir professors from WSU’s School of Music, and will be based on helping students set goals and guiding them to discover what they personally bring to an ensemble, Wiest said.

“It’s a great time for us to highlight what we do at WSU,” she said.

After all the high school performances are finished, four groups will be selected to sing again near the closing of the festival.

“This is an educational event, so we choose choirs that did something very well,” Wiest said.

Hidden among the high school performances will be sets by WSU student ensembles.

The WSU Opera Workshop, The University Singers, the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, the Madrigal Singers, and the Concert Choir will all have a time to perform in the festival.

The Madrigal Singers will perform their pieces dressed in Renaissance attire and will have a more secular selection of songs to balance out the more spiritual tone of the others, Wiest said.

“This was the pop music of its time,” Wiest said. “It can be naughty!”

Many WSU students have volunteered their time to checking the high school groups in, setting up for the event, and offering to give tours to the visitors, she said.

“Everyone pitches in, and I appreciate that,” Wiest said. “I’d say they’re very strong ambassadors of WSU.”

The concerts are free to everyone with the majority taking place in Kimbrough Hall. The final performance, which includes the selected high schools, the Madrigal Singers, and the Concert Choir will begin at 5 p.m. in Bryan Hall.

Reporting by Dustin VandeHoef