By Cortney St. John
Round Table editor
This was the first year for concert choir director Lori Bower taking Middletown High School’s concert choir to adjudication.
The concert choir headed to Urbana High School on Dec. 1 for adjudication where they were judged on various performance categories.
Concert choir received a rating of II an ‘Excellent’. They performed three songs. The songs included: “Autumn Wind” an original piece composed by Lori Bower, “Aveverum” composed by Mozart and “Angels Carol” composed by John Rutter.
“It was disappointing to get a rating of a II because last year we sang level five music and received a rating of a I. This year we sang level three music and scored a rating of a II,” said MHS junior Shantrell Smith.
Last year the choir had received a rating of a I, a ‘Superior’, with previous choir director Jessica Parsley.
“It is common for there to be change in between directors,” said Smith, “also our director has before taught at an elementary school and there is a lot of a difference when teaching at a high school.”
Many choir members were excited to go to adjudication to see their previous choir director Jessica Parsley who was transferred to Oakdale High School last year.
“Seeing Ms. Parsley was very exciting and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip,” said MHS sophomore Parker Damm.
This year the scheduling was different for some of the music classes. Instead of having concert choir for 45 minutes both semesters, the class this year is for 90 minutes for only one semester.
“I didn’t like the schedule change this year because it didn’t give us enough time to prepare for adjudication,” said Damm. “Last year we had until the spring adjudication to rehearse, but because of the schedule change this year our practice time was cut short.”
The MHS Vocal Ensemble meets next semester and will be hosting the choral adjudication in the spring.
“Two years ago when we hosted the adjudication in the spring they had to re-adjust the risers in the middle of adjudication because they were falling apart, now two years later the risers are still falling apart,” said choral director Lori Bower.
The concert choir’s next performance will be their holiday concert on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.
