Note to Our Readers: The following story was sourced directly and in its entirety from Mr. Johnathan Gipson, Director of Media Relations, Magazine School District. Mr. Gipson is a RNN Sports contributor, and we thank him for bringing this story to our readers.
MAGAZINE – Magazine High School’s choir continues to reap the rewards of its hard work and talent.
The Rattler choir received First Division honors and the Best in Class Award for its performance on Monday in the State Choir Performance Assessment at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
It was the choir program’s first appearance in the state assessment in recent history.
The choir consists of sophomores Nat Ervin, Trinidy Harding, Briare Harding and Kalynn Downs, who performs all of the choir’s piano accompaniment.
“The students in the choir love to perform and they are willing to work hard,” Magazine Schools choir director Ashley Love said
“They have had many wonderful performances this year, and this is a great way to start ending the year. I think the greatest achievement was staying focused for so many months. It shows just how much they love music.”
Earlier this spring, the Rattler choir received First Division Superior scores for its on-stage performance and sight-singing during the Region IV Choir Performance Assessment at the Greenwood High School Performing Arts Center.
As a result of that performance, Magazine qualified for the State Choir Performance Assessment.
“State Concert Assessment is judged on the same things as at the region level, but the judges are more critical at state level,” Love explained. The judges look at tone quality, pronunciation, rhythm, pitch, interpretation and style and dynamics.”
Love said First Divison is the highest honor a choir can receive and a distinction that is difficult to attain.
“There were 13 schools in the 1A, 2A and 3A classes, and the only schools that scored a higher First Division (rating) than Magazine were West Fork (3A) and Harding Academy (3A),” Love said.
Competition performances began with qualifying choirs from 1A and will continue until all classes represented have performed. Love said every choir is scored on a rubric, and scores are then compared against each other.
“At events, we perform against all classes,” Love explained. “State will continue on throughout the week. It’s something that cannot be done in one day with so many choirs in our state. We’ll see how the larger choirs do as the week goes on.”
The Best in Class Award that the choir also received is based on total score and judges’ favorites, Love said.
“We had the highest score in 1A and 2A,” Love said.
It’s not the last competition of the week for this talented group of sophomores. All are members of the Rattler band, which will compete in the State Concert Assessment on Wednesday at Cabot High School.
PHOTO INFORMATION
Magazine High School’s choir received First Division honors and the Best of Class Award for their performance in Monday’s State Choir Performance Assessment at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Choir members are (left to right) Briare Harding, Nat Ervin, Trinidy Harding and Kalynn Downs.
