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On May 9, the NS choir received perfect scores at the state competition. The choir has worked hard to achieve these scores.
“I was nervous at the beginning of the year with so many people who have never taken choir before,” said sophomore section leader Summer Johnson. “We made so much improvement.”
This year, the choir had many new people who had never done choir before. Due to the sudden rise of new choir members, the group had almost doubled in size from the previous year. With so many new people, the choir was bound to face many challenges.
“A lot of people in the class don’t know how to read music,” said sophomore Jane Stucki.
In the beginning, due to an increase of brand-new choir students, they had to go back to the basics, including learning to read sheet music. Sheet music can be difficult to learn, but for them to get their perfect scores, they needed to learn the skill. The choir kept working, and even though most of them learned how to read sheet music this year, they can learn more difficult pieces in less amounts of time.
“I feel like it was more important this year to practice music,” said Johnson.
For the choir to get perfect scores in everything they sang while having almost half the choir being completely new, they needed to work hard in and outside of class. Compared to previous years, the choir is not only bigger, but they had to put in more time outside of school. The choir wouldn’t only practice in their class, but at their house as well. All their hard work and dedication inside and outside of school led to an amazing year.
“The choir did everything I asked them to do,” said choir director Timothy Kidder.
The choir knows they couldn’t have gotten their perfect scores without Kidder. Not only did he make them work harder this year, but he worked harder himself. He made it a priority to help his students improve their skill sets, even if it meant taking up some of his time.
“He stayed after and helped me with music,” said senior Rebecca Allred. Kidder helped his students whenever they needed him to, showing that he was just as dedicated to this choir as they were.
“He really puts the emotions in the pieces,” said Allred.
With every piece the choir sings, they have a deep connection to them. Kidder often shares the meaning of different songs, which can create special bonds between the choir and the pieces sung. Because of the special bonds, the choir can bring the songs to life because they know the true meaning behind the songs.
“They consistently work, so every time we have rehearsal, every time we have class, they come in ready to work,” said Kidder.
Kidder credits the choirs’ success to the kids being willing to do whatever he asked of them. To many, so many hours dedicated to one thing would seem daunting, but the choir chose to ignore their freight and practice for however many hours Kidder needed to practice.
“I think we had some rough patches in the beginning, but overall, it was a really fun and really exciting experience,” Allred said.
The choir has ended their 2023-24 season on a great note and hopes to continue their success next year.
