The Fair Grove Singing Eagles start their year off by practicing and preparing for upcoming events. As of now, they are preparing for the Veteran’s Assembly on November 11, 2025, with their second year director, Audra Harmon.
The Singing Eagles Program is a middle school and an elementary honor choir. This group of students is a combination of third through fifth grade. They practice every Wednesday morning from 7:15-7:45am.
The history of the Singing Eagles program started with Cindy Sparks, the Fair Grove Elementary music teacher. She retired in 2023 after 44 years of working full-time and an additional 13 years of working part-time. Sparks came out of retirement for the 2025-2026 school year and will assist with the high school choir and the middle and high school band.
Harmon, this year’s director as well as the middle school music teacher and high school choir director, stated, “The future of the Singing Eagles was unknown. When the school year started last year, I knew it needed to continue, so that is when I stepped in as director.”
The Singing Eagles program helps young students develop so many skills from simply singing. These skills include breath control, reading, phrasing when speaking, and most importantly, working with other students.
Some positive and future success Harmon sees within the students are new skills. She said, “One thing that I started at the beginning of the year is reading music. It is a difficult skill that they typically won’t start until middle school. Students in this choir are starting to develop that starting in third grade, which will make them more successful in their music and band classes in the future.”
Something that Harmon looks forward to is seeing her students’ faces each week. Wednesday has become her favorite day of the week! Harmon shared, “I walk them down to elementary school each week with a smile on my face and ready to take on any challenges for the day.”
The students will be singing at the Veteran’s Assembly (November 11th,) Thanksgiving Lunch (November 21st), their winter concert (December 12th), the Fair Grove Music Festival (April 11th), and their Spring Concert (May 5th). They also sing at the Springfield Cardinals and St. Louis Cardinals game.
Harmon said, “Our biggest performance was singing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ at the Springfield Cardinals game last May.”
The Singing Eagle program is open to all students through the third and fourth grade. To be part of this program, students may fill the student behavior contract and return it to Harmon.
