On November 7th and 8th, five students from Canton Middle School traveled to the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem to perform in the 2015 North Carolina State Honors Chorus.
The five students – 7th graders Julianne Robertson and Trevor Wester, along with 8th graders Javan Delozier, Ryan Worley, and Kennedy Sprinkle – earned the right to participate in the Honors Chorus by passing a rigorous audition in October. Out of 841 students who auditioned, only 145 were offered a place in the choir.
As tenor Javan Delozier put it, the audition was “really nerve-wracking.”
“But when I walked into the audition room,” he continued, “the judge told me to take deep breaths and to start when I was ready.” And that was all it took for the 8th grader, who passed the audition for the second straight year, to turn in another fine performance.
“The audition isn’t that bad,” he admitted, “once you actually start singing.”
Another two-time State Honors Chorus qualifier, tenor Ryan Worley, thought the extensive practice leading up to it was the key to success in the audition.
“Practicing for it was a constant balance of memorization, musical sound [tone quality and diction], and time,” Ryan shared.
Most of the students at Canton Middle School who were interested in trying out for the State Honors Chorus had begun practicing the audition music with CMS Choral Director, Craig Summers, from the very beginning of the year. Those dedicated students usually came to school early and left late on most days, just to make sure they could do their best.
As alto Julianne Robertson put it, “I put lots and lots of time into practicing!”
The chorus is organized and presented by the North Carolina Music Educators’ Association, and this year’s Middle School choral group was under the direction of acclaimed clinician and conductor Dr. Hillary Apfelstadt, from the University of Toronto. Trevor Wester, who sang tenor, found her leadership to be one of the best parts of his Winston-Salem experience.
“I thought the clinician was going to be mean, but I loved her!” he recalled. “She was so nice, and she treated us so well.”
Wester valued the relationships he formed during his Winston-Salem experience, too. “Meeting all of those people was so nice!” he said. “I made a lot of new friends.”
Two-time State Honors Chorus participant, alto Kennedy Sprinkle, echoed that sentiment. “I truly enjoyed just being around people who had similar interests as me and who knew how to listen and really make beautiful music.”
The power of music to bring the students together, forming strong bonds, was not lost on Miss Sprinkle. “The harmonies we made nearly reduced me to tears multiple times,” she continued. “And it’s just a great feeling to talk to someone you don’t know and have a real conversation.”
One of Javan Delozier’s favorite experiences, once the five Canton Middle students arrived at the Stevens Center for their choral clinic and performance, was being able to perform for a very special guest. “The woman who wrote the song was at the convention,” Delozier said, “and she came to listen to us sing it!”
Canton Middle School was well-represented in the State Honors Chorus, with its five students comprising the fourth-highest number of students from any one middle school in the entire state. In fact, 53 of the 145 students selected for Honors Chorus were from 26 different schools in the WNC region, meaning that CMS provided nearly 10% of the Honors Chorus students selected from our part of the state.
For CMS Choral Director Craig Summers and his singers, though, there is no resting on laurels. He already has his eager, talented students looking ahead to the NCMEA All State Chorus, which will take place in Greensboro in mid-April.
Submitted by: Bill Hunt, Canton Middle School
