Nine Singers Attend KMEA State Choir
March 29, 2018
The Junction City High school Chamber choir had nine students qualify for the KMEA (Kansas Musical Educators Association) State Choir this year. For many of these students, this is their first year making it to state choir.
The nine Students who qualified this year were Dominiqe Gann, McKenna Brown, Dillion Duncan, Nicholas Spellman, Jacob Childs, Mackenzie Haddix, Nicholas Paradas, and Isaiah Poulson. Students had to audition for their spot in the state choir. The audition process involved learning seven songs and their ability to sing them.
“The hardest thing about making it to State Choir was learning the music in the first place,” senior Dillon Duncan said.
The KMEA state choir is big opportunity for aspiring singers to learn more about their own voice and sing with others from across the state. Students had to work to learn each song they performed, often having very little time to practice or perfect their performance. Students must know how to recover from mistakes like missing a note and complete their audition the best they can.
“Learning the songs was hard because some of the songs I wasn’t able to put solfege into them and we just went straight into the song. Some of them were easy and some of them were in different languages, so you have to be a very quick learner,” senior McKenna Brown said.
All of the musical pieces challenging and are picked to display the student’s ability to hit certain notes and test their ability to perform music they don’t typically sing.
For many of these students being accepted to sing in the KMEA state choir is a major accomplishment.
“Music is a big part of my life and just when I thought I couldn’t do more with music, and I couldn’t achieve more, I found out I made state choir.” senior Dominiqe Gann Said
In only six years, Choral Director Michael Brown has been able to develop the talents of students into one of the top choir programs in the state. students over the years he has learned from his students about the best ways to help them find success and progress as singers.
“Students teach me how to pace my lessons,” Brown explained. “Throughout the years it has taught me to have realistic expectations for high students and what are unrealistic expectations.”
When Brown arrived at Junction City High School he had a plan to develop one of the best choirs in the state, and so far, the hard work is paying off.
“I had a vision for us to focus on contemporary choral music that would prepare our students to sing at collegiate levels or in community choirs all across the nation.”
