Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Southeast choir returns from division conference

Monday, March 28, 2016

The Chamber Choir at Southeast Missouri State University traveled to Kansas City, Missouri, to participate in the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association Division Conference March 7-10.

At the conference, the Chamber Choir sang as members of the All-Collegiate Honors Choir of the Southwest region, which included 166 singers from the states of Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Colorado. The Chamber Choir also was given the opportunity to watch Grammy-award-winning group Kansas City Chorale perform at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, which junior vocal performance major Demi Avery described as a rewarding experience.

"The Kauffman Center is an amazing hall and the chorale sounded amazing," Avery said. "We actually had the chance to meet some of the performers, and they were super down-to-earth musicians."

During the conference, members of the Chamber Choir spent the majority of each day in rehearsals because, according to Avery, the music they were required to learn at the conference was at a higher level and demanded heavy practice time.

Under the direction of Dr. Allen Hightower, a professor at Luther College in Iowa, musicians from all over the region rehearsed works by renowned composers such as Eriks Esenvalds, Johann Sebastian Bach and Maurice Durufle to be performance-ready in just three days.

Brittany Moleski, a Southeast sophomore vocal major, said the conference gave her a whole new outlook on performing and was an opportunity for mental growth.

"Working with other great singers under the direction of Dr. Hightower helped us grow as performers," Moleski said. "We learned very difficult music in a short period of time, and I think we were successful because, as a group, we worked really hard on diction, balance, articulation and style to get the sound that he wanted. Each singer walked away with not only more musical knowledge, but also a better perspective on what it means to be a musician."

Other participants in the conference included performers from the St. Louis Children's Choir, singers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Ambassadors of Harmony, a 160 member men's barbershop chorus founded in St. Charles, Missouri.

When not rehearsing or watching other music groups perform, the Chamber Choir also spent time at the conference gaining insight from professionals in the music field.

"We got to go to different sessions at the conference and network with current music educators and choral directors," Moleski said. "I think it was really helpful to sit in on sessions with people that are already in the field. We were able to talk to and learn from very successful educators."

A student is not required to be a music major to participate in any of the Southeast choirs, which include University Choir, Chamber Choir and Choral Union. University Choir and Chamber Choir members are selected by an audition process, while Choral Union only requires enrolling for the course. To find out more about participating in music ensembles offered at Southeast, students may contact the music administrative office at (573) 651-2141.

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