Choir Heading to All-State

Alan Showalter, choir director at Southwest Junior High School, leads the Harmony Choir through a practice Tuesday at the Springdale school. The group is practicing for a concert Tuesday and a performance at the Arkansas All-State Music Conference on Feb. 15 in Hot Springs. The Harmony choir is one of three invited to perform from across the state.
Alan Showalter, choir director at Southwest Junior High School, leads the Harmony Choir through a practice Tuesday at the Springdale school. The group is practicing for a concert Tuesday and a performance at the Arkansas All-State Music Conference on Feb. 15 in Hot Springs. The Harmony choir is one of three invited to perform from across the state.

— Springdale will be represented in Hot Springs next week when three of the best choirs in Arkansas convene.

Southwest Junior High School’s choir was the only junior high school choir selected to perform in the All-State Music Conference on Feb. 15. Harding University and Alma High School also will perform.

At A Glance

Practice Show

The Southwest Junior High choir’s All-State group will warm up for their Hot Springs show with a performance at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Springdale High School Performing Arts Center. The show is free and open to the public.

The boys will perform:

-“Shout for Joy!” by Dan Davison

-“Find the Cost of Freedom” by Steven Stills

-“Cover Me with the Night” by Andrea Ramsey

The girls will perform:

-“Riversong” by Roger Emerson

-“Sanctus” by Tomas Luis de Victoria

-“Jonah” by Rollo A. Dilworth

The boys and girls will then combine to sing “Praise, Praise, Praise the Lord,” a processional song used by women in Cameroon.

Source: Staff Report

Alan Showalter, Southwest’s choir director, learned last summer his choir had been chosen for All-State. That was after he submitted several recordings of his students’ singing to the Arkansas Choral Directors Association. His students have been preparing for the performance since the school year began.

“This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these kids,” said Denice Parkhurst, assistant director.

The annual All-State Music Conference consists of exhibits and clinics related to teaching music.

About 300 Southwest students — close to one-third of the school’s enrollment — participate in choir classes. The best of them, including 57 boys and 59 girls, will travel to Hot Springs.

The boys will perform three songs and the girls will follow with three songs The boys and girls will then combine to sing one final song. Showalter said he expects at least 500 people to be in the audience.

The students will board charter buses at school and depart around noon on Feb. 15 for the three-hour trip to Hot Springs. They will eat dinner there and perform from 7:30 to 8 p.m., then head home at about 8:30.

Showalter said the trip will cost at least $4,000. To help cover the cost, students have been selling cookie dough all school year.

Madisyn Dowell, 15, said she has been singing in choirs since she was in the second grade. She said she’s excited about the trip.

As for what got her started singing, she couldn’t say.

“It’s a great way to express yourself,” she said.

Willie Jasinski, 14, sings and plays guitar at his church. He’s not anxious about All-State.

“It’s not real scary at all, especially when you have 50 other guys around you,” Willie said.

He started in honor choir in the seventh grade. He’s also a center on the school basketball team.

“I’ve always liked singing,” Willie said. “It’s just fun. I just like it. It’s something I’ve always done.”

Showalter and Parkhurst have worked together at Southwest since 2005. They are quick to credit the choir programs at Southwest’s feeder schools — particularly Helen Tyson Middle School — for the success of their own program.

“We collaborate with the Helen Tyson teachers a lot,” Showalter said.

When asked about Southwest’s high participation rate in choir, Showalter said it has to do with the program’s excellence.

“I think every student notices excellence, and that’s attractive,” Showalter said. “They want to be a part of that.”

Choosing the songs for next week’s performance was a complex process. Showalter said the goal was to pick music that would be entertaining, but also educational for the students.

One of the songs they will perform is in Latin. Another song, which the boys and girls do together, starts out in French before changing to English.

Southwest’s appearance at All-State continues what has been a successful year for Springdale choral programs. The Northwest Arkansas Choral Directors Association recently named Springdale High’s Rhonda Hawley as outstanding high school choral director of the year and George Junior High’s Cara Sedberry as outstanding junior high choral director of the year.

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