Three Parkway Students Chosen for N.C. Honors Chorus

Three Parkway School students recently won statewide recognition for their musical abilities. Pictured, from left to right, are Megan Jackson, Tristin Derrick and Callie Idol. Photo submitted

Three students from Parkway School have been selected for participation in a North Carolina Honors Chorus for 2009. Sixth graders Callie Idol and Tristin Derrick were chosen for the 2009 North Carolina Elementary Honors Chorus and eighth grader Megan Jackson was selected for the 2009 North Carolina Middle School Honors Chorus.

Sixth graders Idol and Derrick will join 150 other students chosen from across North Carolina to perform as part of the N.C. Elementary Honors Chorus at the North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA) Conference in Winston-Salem in November. The purpose of this Honors Chorus is to provide students with the opportunity to develop their abilities to the greatest possible extent.

The selection process for the Elementary Honors Chorus begins when teachers who are members of NCMEA submit student auditions. Music teacher and NCMEA member Sondra Edwards sent the auditions for the three students selected from Parkway. Independent judges are hired to select the members of the Honors Chorus based on the auditions.

Once the selections have been made, music teachers work with their students in preparation for the concert and students spend the day before the concert working with an musical clinician selected just for this event. This year the director for the Elementary Honors Chorus is Cheryl Dupont, artistic director of the New Orleans Children's Chorus and Youth Chorale.

Eighth grader Jackson auditioned for the N.C. Middle School Honors Chorus in Hickory and was selected from among 1000 students who auditioned across the state. This Honors Chorus provides an opportunity for the state’s very best singers in grades 7 through 9 to come together to work with a nationally acclaimed choral conductor and then to perform as a group. This year Jonathan Willcocks from London, England will conduct the Middle School Honors Chorus.

Honors Chorus students will travel to Winston-Salem on Saturday, November 7, and rehearse all day with these renowned clinicians. They will perform on Sunday, November 8, in the Stevens Center.

Parkway School is one of eight schools for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students in the Watauga County Schools. Parkway has a current enrollment of approximately 535 students.