Chamber Choir gets new rules
November 23, 2020
One of the schools elite choirs that students need to audition to get into is Chamber Choir. This choir is taught by choir teacher Kaitlyn Larson.
Chamber Choir is very important for the freshman singers. They can only sing with their single-gender choirs. For the students who want to further their singing skills, they can join this choir to get extra practice in and sing with a Soprano Alto Tenor Bass Choir.
“Chamber gave me the opportunity to hear more harmless because it is a boy and girl choir where his 9th grade you are very limited to your harmonies with only singing with men,” junior Tanner Voight said about his freshman year in this choir.
This choir gets together once every week for rehearsal. In a normal school year, Tuesdays and Thursdays can expect to see them at school 30 minutes before everyone else is arriving just so they can learn music and sing together. This year they only stay after school one day a week.
“I think the most challenging aspect of Chamber Choir this year will be having only one rehearsal per week instead of two,” Larson said.
I think the most challenging aspect of Chamber Choir this year will be having only one rehearsal per week instead of two
— Kaitlyn Larson
This year, there was one freshman male that auditioned with the initial wave of auditions. “There were actually more freshmen men that auditioned after the initial sign-up was posted. I think the smaller number of auditionees is reflective of how few 9th-grade men we have singing in our choral program right now,” Larson said. “Sometimes encouragement from a teacher helps.”
This choir is normally a 9-10 grade choir, but this year Larson decided to let all grades be able to get in. Now students in the 9-12th grade can audition as long as they are in a music program at the high school like choir, band, or orchestra.
“We have opened up the Stillwater Chamber Choir to students in all grade levels to provide more opportunities for juniors and seniors, especially tenors and basses,” Larson said.
The mens singers have fewer opportunities than the women singers. The men previously to this year had two options: if they were an underclassman, they had a treble choir and chamber, and if they were an upperclassman then they had varsity choir, concert choir, and vagabonds.
“While treble singers have the option to audition for Select Women, we do not have a Select Men’s ensemble, so removing grade restrictions from Chamber Choir seemed like the most equitable solution,” Larson said about this subject.
The Chamber Choir will still be getting together this year even if the district goes into distance learning. They will continue to try and progress in their singing. Maybe even down the road, they will perform. “It also made me have more friendships in the class, a lot better because you were spending more time with those people,” Voight said about his experiences in the chamber choir.
“While treble singers have the option to audition for Select Women, we do not have a Select Men’s ensemble, so removing grade restrictions from Chamber Choir seemed like the most equitable solution,” Larson said.
