By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
The Mack Lyon Middle School choir traveled to Las Vegas last week to perform before a panel of judges at UNLV’s Ham Hall for the CCSD choir festival. They did extremely well and were able to get an “Excellent” rating on their performance and a “Superior” rating on their Criteria Reference Assessment (CRA).
The choir program at Lyon is a relatively new program. This year’s choir consists of 17 students, a significant increase over last year. But Lyon Choir teacher Walter White said that even with small numbers, the students were able to give a quality performance. “I’m very pleased with how they did,” White said. “They did everything we’d talked about in class. These kids are great and they really did what they prepared to do.”
Unlike instrumental groups, choir competitors receive two scores. The first is on their performance. The group performed 3 very different songs that demonstrated a wide range of abilities. Even though they received a “2” rating overall, their marks were very high and the comments very positive.
After their performance, the group went on to their CRA clinic where they met one-on-one with a judge who evaluated them on the three “power standards” of posture, tonality, and melodic line by giving them music to sightread. The purpose of this was to judge the choir on the skills they have learned in class and how they apply them to music they have never seen before.
“They were supposed to demonstrate what they’ve learned in their classes that will stand them in good stead when they get to a more serious level,” White said. “They took the music they were given to sightread and nailed the melodic line spot-on!”
The group was very excited to receive a “1” rating overall for their CRA.
The day was not all work, though. The group left early and was able to listen to several other choirs perform. They saw one that had 120 kids in it and were excited to hear the huge sound such a large choir produced.
“The kids put all the skills they have learned into their performance and really used their voices as instruments,” White said of the experience. “They were very engaged and enthusiastic. I appreciate their effort and dedication. They are a great bunch of kids.”
