On March 4th, Woodford County High School’s Treble Choir and Chorale got a Distinguished rating at KMEA. The KMEA rating was based on two factors: sight reading and performance for judges. Treble Choir, consisting of Soprano and Alto voices scored a 39/40 on their sight reading. Chorale, consisting of SATB voices, scored a 40/40. I interviewed choir members Haylee Hogan and Karlee Blanton to describe their impressive feat.
Karlee Blanton is a Soprano 1 in WCHS Chorale. She has been doing choir for 12 years and has participated in Chorale for four of those years. When asked how Chorale prepared for KMEA she responded, “By working together during class or even individually with our sections so we could make the pieces the best they could be.” Although Chorale put their best foot forward when preparing for KMEA, when asked if there were any challenges that Chorale faced, Karlee responded, “We did have the challenges of snow days/NTI days getting in the way of us learning our pieces as a group so we needed to learn them individually to make it the best performance possible.” However, even though there were troubles with the unpredictable weather, Chorale still managed to give a distinguished performance. Karlee is a senior, so this was her last KMEA. I asked Karlee how she felt about her performance in the context of this being her last KMEA, “How it felt getting distinguished in my last year of KMEA was very emotional cause getting a distinguished at KMEA all years there shows how great of a choir we are. Which shows even more how much I am going to miss this choir. They have given me a sense of family and showed me so much love for my art, and I will miss everything about them.” It is such a beautiful sentiment for a class that has shaped the lives of many WCHS students and alumni alike.
While this is Karlee’s last year participating in KMEA, sophomore Haylee Hogan still has two more to go. KMEA is a demanding process that requires practice in class and at home. To practice Haylee would, “hum through the songs at home to feel comfortable with the notes and tempo.” Haylee’s hard work paid off because she and other members of the Treble Choir pulled off an almost perfect sight reading score and a distinguished rating on their pieces. Not only did the Treble choir use their voices to impress the judges but also their dance moves. The treble choir had a choreographed dance using different colored scarves to elevate their performance. The piece looked astonishing and visually stunning. I asked Haylee how it felt for her to get a distinguished rating and she replied, “I was proud of Treble because we had so many weird weather days that we did amazingly and pushed through for the best rating.”
Congratulations to both choirs for overcoming bad weather days and scoring a distinguished!
