In a departure from the previous hierarchical and competitive choir system, the Charmer All Girls Choir became an Intermediate Mixed Choir, with the hopes of creating a more positive environment in the department.
Choir director Kelli Pierson is in her third year as the full-time choir teacher. Walking into someone else’s program, she said she was still trying to figure out how to put her own personal spin on things.
“Now that it is my third year, I have finally felt the freedom to change some things and make [the department] a different culture,” Pierson said.
Senior Emma Flye has been participating in choir for all four years of high school.
“I have definitely noticed a difference [in the class], but that is what I expect to come when a new teacher joins the department,” Flye said.
One of the things Pierson changed is the language she uses when talking about certain subjects, like the different choirs or end-of-year auditions.
“I do not call them auditions anymore,” Pierson said. “I try to call them placements because it’s really about placing them in the choir they are going to be the most successful in.”
Pierson said once the students caught on to this, they realized the class had a more positive environment as a result of the change. They could see each other as equals and not as their competition.
“It is more about [how] we are all a part of this music-making family together,” Pierson said.
Flye said during the first few years there was not much interaction between higher and lower choirs, so she felt scared of the prominent split between the levels of singers.
“I felt like I was so far away in status and skill from the seniors that were in Statesmen [Singers], the highest choir that the school has to offer,” Flye said.
But now that she is in her senior year and there is more unity between the choirs, she said she feels more connected to the younger students.
“The choir department is much more accepting of younger, less experienced musicians,” Flye said. “I believe that […] the environment is much more open to people who want to join.”
Flye said she was not happy with all of these changes because choir lost some traditions they used to love, but she soon realized change was for the best.
“Though we lost some of the things that made me interested in Statesmen choir to begin with, the new things that we’ve adapted are so much more fun than I ever imagined,” Flye said.
Pierson said choir has always been a positive environment, but now the words she thinks of are family, inclusivity, togetherness and unity.
“I can say firsthand that the choir I joined this year is very inclusive and welcoming,” senior Dillon Green said. “People are still proud to be in their specific choir.”
2018-11-26