With the school year wrapping up, Fair Groves High school band and High school choir are heading to districts to compete for a district title on March 28th.
With the band being led by Natalie Palomo, and the choir being led by Audra Harmon, they have their respected district performances right around the corner.
The two extracurriculars may be similar on the surface, but the district performance itself is very different. “The students play their solo (or small ensemble, like a trio) for a judge who writes feedback live while listening and looking at the music,” said Palomo about the layout of the performance.
Being in charge of a band you see what Palomo is actually keeping in line all day. “It can be hard to juggle all the different parts of the band! Sometimes it gets overwhelming trying to stay on top of the 5 concert band classes, plus 3 jazz bands, plus a pep band.”
Palomo stated what she feels the performers struggle with the most, Palomo gave us her honest feedback and said, “I think with districts, sometimes kids put a lot of pressure on themselves because it’s hard and intimidating to play alone in front of anyone, let alone a judge. It can also be hard for students to attend regular rehearsals with Ms. Sparks (our accompanist)!”
When it comes to what the students perform, Palomo stated, “Each student does their own entry. So they’d perform their own solo or small ensemble depending on the year, but there isn’t like a “setlist” of songs we do each time!”
With band and choir at the same event, Audra Harmon led the choir to get some district qualifiers as well as Palomo.
When we asked Harmon about what the layout is for district choir she told us, “For this performance, it is solos and small groups. Meaning it isn’t the whole choir. This means that individual students need to practice outside of class time in order to prepare for this event.”
Harmon shared some things she feels she struggles with, “Making sure each group/solo has enough time to prepare. And at the actual performance keeping my own nerves in check. I want them to do well, and know going into the performance that they should, but I still get nervous.”
With every struggle among a teacher is struggles within the students. Harmon shared things she feels the students struggle with as well stating, “The hardest part of this event is that it is all outside of class time for preparation. Choir students are typically involved in many different activities, and finding time to work schedules out among all group members is sometimes difficult.”
However with every negative comes a positive, Harmon stated, “They are motivated to work. Most of the groups chose their music when we came back to school in August and immediately got to work. It is always fun to see that hard work pay off.” what she feels the choir goes above and beyond with.
Palomo shared things she feels the band goes above and beyond with as well saying, “So many of my students step up every day to help with just about everything. I see kids helping other kids name notes, I hear them encouraging each other when they play something really well, I have kids signing up to volunteer for every single event we host in any capacity, and kids are just always willing to help each other and support each other, which all around makes our band a stronger ensemble.”
The band and choir at Fair Grove are preparing for a good shot at state.
