The Magic of Choir

This year, our school has the biggest choir we have had in a few years with over 70 students! Not only do we have the biggest choir, but the choir class is the biggest class in the whole school this year. This may sound like a handful for the choir teacher, Mrs. Rowley, but she has it all under control along with Mrs. Speakman, her assistant teacher and piano player. This year, just like all the other years, the students get to do solo and ensemble, which is a competition like a normal sports tournament, but it’s for singing. The choir students get to compete against other schools in the region and hopefully, the state. In previous years, our choir has done really well in solo and ensemble, and the students have the skills to do the same this year. “We have a lot of great potential in this class this year, and I’m excited to see how far they will go!” Says Mrs. Rowley

The choir doesn’t only compete as a whole class for solo and ensemble; they can also do a solo or be in a small group of their classmates. These solos/small groups can get some music from the school’s big music library to compete with, or they can find their own. The only restriction that they have is that the music has to be a classical or folk piece. Most of the students also have to find their own accompanist to play their music live. Although Mrs. Speakman is very talented, she cannot accompany almost 20 pieces in such a short amount of time. The students’ accompanists can be their neighbors, their peers, or just anyone that can play piano and is free on the dates when they perform.

This year, the students also have the amazing opportunity to go to Disneyland! Because of this, the first concert of the year was all Disney songs, ranging from The Circle of Life from “The Lion King” all the way to Gaston from “Beauty and the Beast.” The choir also did their second concert of the year in December for Christmas. The fun thing about this concert was that they had the mini choir singing songs with them. The mini choir was kids from kindergarten to eighth grade that also love to sing just like our high school choir.