Ralston Valley has always had success with its music department, whether it is the annual spring musical, the orchestra and band, or the many choirs we have collected at RV.
Here at RV, the vocal music department consists of, “Fiore, Concert Choir, Men’s Choir, Heaven Sent, occasionally Men’s Ensemble, (we’re not sure this year) women’s choir, and, of course, Shades of Blue.” Shades of Blue will chime in with new members next year, including Emma Heckman (11) and Jordan McKinley (11).
Shades of Blue is the goal for most choir students eager to continue to perfect their voices, and getting there is no easy feat. With the seniors graduating spots opened up on this highly selective choir and new members were admitted.
It was no walk in the park to make the list for next year’s Shades, and once it kicks in full swing it won’t be any easier to
keep Shades’ expected caliber.
“There are a lot of extra festivals, we perform on the radio annually and we have some sort of extracurricular out of school thing every month,” says McKinley, about the kind of extra activities Shades gets to participate in. Those are only the activities for the school year; over the summer, Shades will meet to get their music and then are expected to memorize all of it by the time school is back in session. Their musical genre varies but includes: Broadways, classical, jazz, folk songs, “not like ‘folk’ but like amazing grace and like things like that” McKinley clarifies.
For advice next year, Emily Walsh (11) weighs in “Last year we didn’t memorize some of our music and when we came back he made us sing it for him and it was not good at all.”
But all work and no play doesn’t make a happy choir. There are most definitely some perks besides being able to sing along to the radio really well, and that is the dresses. “Mackenzie Talley and Emily Walsh are going to pick out the dresses, but I trust them completely. They dress well so we’re good to go,” jokes McKinley.
For any aspiring future Shades members, the one of easiest way to increase your chances of getting in is to simply participate in one of the other choirs taught by Mr. Talley and Mrs. Hunt. Mr. Talley may come off as well…intense to some, but he is, “probably the best teacher I’ve ever had and he drives me crazy sometimes but his class is just thoroughly fun to go to,” McKinley . While it is fun, it is not a blow-off class and to keep Mr. Talley in a good mood his students must have, “A willingness to work, and realize you can’t take him seriously the whole time, even if he’s in a terrible mood. He says he wants to be with people who want to be there and enjoy being there. If they don’t want to be there then he doesn’t do well with them” advises Heckman.