TJ choir has their last concert on Tuesday, May 17th, a great way to celebrate their win with the community. photo by Tambyr Reed
TJ’s choir students bring home two first place trophies.
On May 14th, TJ took a group of forty students to the Music in the Parks choir competition. The past two years they have brought home second place trophies, but this year they did not settle and excelled, bringing two first place trophies back for the Spartans.
TJ competed in two categories, performing five songs total. The combined choir of forty consisted of performers from TJ’s four choirs, Men’s, Women’s, Advanced, and Monticello. The Monticello choir, consisting of eleven singers, also competed separately. Monticello member senior Jordyn Chappell shared, “I think the songs we performed at Music in the Parks really showcased each range. You could hear every voice part.”
Choir teacher Tambyr Reed started off this competition season differently, and decided to bring choir students by invitation only. In the past, all choir students could perform, but this year Reed wanted to form the best possible choir. “The students I selected were students that were going to commit to lunch rehearsals, were going to work on the music, and were going to care about placing,” said Reed. “I think they did really well. They have shown tons of improvement year to year. This year it was the little extra work that gave them first place.”
The competition took place at Ralston Valley High School. Every performance was judged by two judges, who recorded their comments on voice-overs as well as a written scoring sheet. Reed commented “the written comments overall were good. I think they have some excellent points that we can grow from, but it’s the same things we work on in class so it’s just refining it.” There was abnormal pressure on Reed to perform well this year, as one of the judges was her director in City Wide Choir in high school. “I’m really excited to listen to what the feedback will be and see what they he has to say,” said Reed. Although the recorded comments are not available yet, the choirs are already implementing the new critics into their final concert, which will take place at TJ at 7 o’clock on Tuesday, May 17th.
After performing, the students had the opportunity to celebrate at Elitches before the awards ceremony, held in the arena there. The time in the park is a good opportunity for ensembles to unwind and have fun together. The awards ceremony was exciting for the Spartans, who took home two “Excellent” trophies alongside their first-place rank. Member of men’s choir senior Isaiah Payne said “I enjoyed seeing all the choir students come together and support each other.”
The choir students have their final concert of the year on Tuesday, May 17th at 7. TJ’s award winning choirs will be performing all their competition songs as well as other selections so stop by and see why the judges raved about the team from TJ.
