A whole new meaning to 'road trip'

Fine arts department competes, participates in workshops all over the nation

 

At the competition in New York (from left), sophomores Matt Miller and Candice Shedd-Thompson, junior Garet Thatcher and sophomore Grace Le rehearse their routine in a practice room provided for them. Even when on the road, Touch of Class rehearses before their shows to work out kinks. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

 

By Jessy Cooper

April 25, 2008

America may stretch from seas to shining sea, but so does the music department as they spread their musical talents wherever their travels take them.

 

Roaming across the country and encountering numerous different competitors, members of the band, orchestra and choirs compete on the national level.

 

Students involved with symphonic and concert orchestra traveled all the way to Orlando on a bus to compete with only three schools, two of which brought bands. This allowed for the orchestra to receive very high ratings from the judges during competition.

 

“We were aiming to get a superior rating,” junior Abigail Acio said, “and we got that.”

 

Competing in different arenas allow the programs to not only gain feedback from many different judges, but it the students are also exposed to many different performing environments.

 

The choir department traveled to New York City from April 3 - 6, where the show choirs competed on a professional stage at the Manhattan Center and the standing choirs sang in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

 

“Getting to travel and see a different part of the country and getting to sing where you don’t generally get to sing is really important,” choir teacher Michael Fuchs said.
The competitions also expose the students to different judges and many different suggestions and opinions of music.

 

“You get to go out and listen to other groups perform and you get to be adjudicated by people who know their craft,” band director Drew Ross said. “It’s just an opportunity for us to see, to perform for a new audience and to adjudicated by great judges. Plus the trips are fun, too.”

 

Touch of Class was looking forward to finishing higher than they had at their national level competitions over the past few years.
“There are only five choirs this year so it’s a little less competition,” junior Elizabeth Hall said.

 

Only the top three teams in the competition went on to finals and received higher recognition.
Touch of Class did not make it into the top three.

 

“They did everything we asked of them,” choral director Glenn Cockrell said. “The just missed finals by a few points and finished fourth.”
Senior Edward Bryant, however, received the award for outstanding male soloist for his performance of “Cadillac Car.”

 

Concert choir finished third in it’s competition. All of the students’ hard work paid off through their performances.
“We’ve been working on these songs since Holiday Spectacular,” junior David Harsh said.

 

Cockrell was very confident in all of the work the show choirs put in over the year, but said that they were out matched in the size of their choirs and not in their abilities.
“We only have 28 singers and most of the others had 40 or 50 singers,” Cockrell said.

 

The many different band groups that travel to compete, such as Jazz and Symphonic bands, have been to Michigan, Richmond, Maryland, Ohio and Indianapolis. They won the entire competition at both the Richmond and Ohio events.

 

“Symphonic band was selected to play at this national concert, Band Festival, that was in Indianapolis and that was actually the award in itself,” Ross said. “There weren’t any placements there. It was just a chance to perform.”

 

Touch of Class, along with all of the other choirs, orchestra and band, put a lot of effort in to prepare for their competition trips.

 

“Since September we’ve had two after - school rehearsals every week,” senior Taylor Nurmi said. “On long weekends, we’ll rehearse on Monday and Tuesday for about five hours a day, too.”