Being a high school student isn’t easy.
Being a member of the Brown County High School choirs can make it easier, students say.
“It made me more confident,” said senior Heather Pritchard. “Whenever I am having a bad day, someone will be like, ‘Hey, Heather what’s going on?’ I just never had that before. I’ve always kind of been off by myself. They won’t let me be alone,” she said with a smile.
“If it weren’t for show choir I wouldn’t even come to school. I used to love school, but now it’s a hassle because people are mean and classes are hard.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]The choir department has grown under the leadership of Director Kristi Billings over the past six years. Supporting each other is a big part of the culture.
“It provides a safe space for these students to explore who they are as a person and showcase that to the world, but they get to do it in a group and they get to do it in a group where everyone is performing in the same way and at the same level,” Billings said.
“They get to be an individual, but they don’t have to stand out and be isolated.”
Pritchard has been in choir for six years. This is her second year with Serenade, one of the two show choirs at the high school. Show choirs compete at statewide competitions performing song and dance routines.
“I’ve never been an outgoing person. I’ve always been shy and more introverted, and I still am, but I’ve definitely changed,” she said.
“If you looked at me today and looked at me four years ago you would not even realize who you’re talking to. It’s like I am a completely different person. It has shaped who I am.”
On Sept. 22, the community is invited to watch the two show choirs perform at the sixth annual Coffee Cabaret.
The women’s beginning choir, Treble, also will perform. A reception will follow with desserts, coffee, a silent auction and a raffle.
This is the department’s biggest fundraiser. All money raised will go toward costs associated with competitions, music copyright fees, arranging fees, paying choreographers, buying costumes and other expenses.
“It’s really important to me that show choir is an activity that students can participate in regardless of financial means,” Billings said.
“A lot of schools don’t fund raise in that way. They pass the costs on to the students, so the students buy all of the costumes. … That’s not feasible, nor should that burden be placed on our students.”
Rising to the occasion
At the beginning of the school year, Billings said students in the two show choirs, Serenade and Rhapsody, brought in pledges for the class to sign.
“I pledge to make this a safe place for my Rhapsody family, to make sure everyone feels welcomed, loved and accepted. And to kick some booty during this comp (competitive) season,” Rhapsody’s class pledge reads.
“I pledge to always put my show choir family before myself. To always bring a positive attitude into rehearsals and the classroom. To always give 110 percent effort and to have fun,” Serenade’s pledge reads.
Both pledges — covered in student signatures, glitter and music notes — hang on the choir classroom’s mirrors.
“They showed up the first day of school with those in hand, ready to have their classmates sign. I didn’t ask them to do that,” Billings said.
One of the goals for show choir this year is getting the underclassmen to “step up to the plate” after 24 seniors graduated last year.
Another goal is shifting the “culture” of choir to reinforce the community aspect of the experience, along with focusing on winning competitions, Billings said.
Last year was the first time Serenade competed. “Their scores kept increasing as the season went on,” she said. “From the beginning of the year to the spring show it was like I had an entirely different group in front of me, so it was pretty awesome.”
Turning Serenade into a competitive choir was a student-led decision, too.
“The conversation I had with them was that, ‘OK, I will take this group competitive. But this is what that means: The commitment will be higher. It’s going to be more demanding. The expectations are going to be higher.’ They said, ‘Yeah, we want that.’ We did and they rose to the occasion,” Billings said.
It was the fourth competitive season for Rhapsody, which also had its most successful season last year. “Rhapsody came home with a trophy of some kind from every competition,” Billings said.
The highest award was when they placed first-runner-up at Franklin Central. At their final competition in Shelbyville, Rhapsody also earned the best choreography caption award, which meant they had the highest dance score of any group in their division.
Rhapsody’s backup band has also brought home multiple awards over the years.
“Students from other schools would contact our students via social media and be like, ‘Oh my gosh. I saw your show. It was so amazing,’” Billings said.
The show choirs will compete in four shows beginning in February. Two choreographers, Brennan Wilder and Kevin Rudzinski, work with the groups.
Routines to be performed at the Coffee Cabaret are what they learned at a show choir camp in Ohio over the summer. After the cabaret, students will begin learning the competition routines.
The choir department usually has four choirs, including beginning men’s and women’s choirs which don’t require auditions. Due to scheduling issues, there is no beginning men’s choir at the moment, but Billings said they hope to get it going next semester.
“We definitely need guys singing. Singing is good. Singing is masculine. Be a guy who sings,” she said.
Choir family
Senior Branden Leslie has been in choir since he was in seventh grade. This is his second year in Rhapsody. He’s also going to run cross-country, wrestle and play baseball this year.
“At school there’s me, the person I am. But then, like, show choir feels more like home, looser and it’s easier to express myself,” he said.
He said being in show choir helps him perform better in sports by learning how to breathe while singing and dancing.
“You have to get bigger breaths. She (Billings) helps us with breath support,” he said. “Dancing and the fact I move around a lot, it helps me coordinate my feet.”
Freshman Eli Wilkinson remembers coming to watch the high school show choirs perform when he was in choir at the junior high. “I always wanted to do that and I finally got my chance,” he said.
Wilkinson is also a football player. He also said that being in Rhapsody show choir helps him perform better on the field — and vice versa.
“In show choir we have to deal with foot work. Then in football we also have to use footwork to move around, basically. It (choir) helps me a lot,” he said. “With conditioning and breathing in show choir, that mixes over. It’s easier for me to go awhile without taking a breath than it would have been if I probably didn’t do sports.”
He said he dances in the locker rooms and tries to talk his football friends into joining show choir with him, “especially the ones who like to sing. They’re like, ‘I’m not a good dancer.’ I’m like, ‘OK, well you learn how to dance. She (Billings) helps you a lot.’ I came in here and I was really bad at dancing. I am still not great, but I get up there and it’s fun,” he said.
This is sophomore Ellie Bond’s first year in show choir. She is a member of Serenade.
“I was super nervous going into it because I’ve never really done anything that makes me stand out, so it’s helping me,” she said.
Learning to dance was difficult at the beginning, but with the help of her classmates, Bond said she’s getting better.
Junior Airiona Decker said being in show choir has helped her find herself. She is a member of Serenade and serves as a dance captain.
She’s been in choir since seventh grade, but she was nervous about joining choir at the high school.
“I did it, and the first day I walked into that choir room, it felt like home. I loved it so much,” she said.
Senior Kyndra Wood is a member of Rhapsody. She said choir is like a family.
“Everybody is nice to everybody, helps out everybody. If you need your hair done by somebody, you can’t do it, then you’ll have help,” she said.
When Billings first came to Brown County, less than 50 students were involved in three choirs: A varsity mixed chorus, an intermediate women’s choir and a beginning women’s choir. That number now fluctuates between 75 and 100.
Billings said the students keep her here. “These students have a lot to offer the world, so the opportunity to stay here and work with them is something I really value,” she said.
“This group of kids, they are our school’s ambassadors, they travel all over the state of Indiana and perform on behalf of our school and community. They are an excellent representation of what Brown County is to the outside world.”
Junior Evelyn Pool, a Rhapsody member, said her choir family has a “sense of unity together that you just can’t beat.”
She’s been in choir since fourth grade at Helmsburg Elementary School.
“Without choir I feel like I would be in a very different place right now, not only socially, but academically, because whenever I’ve been in choir I’ve always had this backbone of support that if I am feeling down one day, I have people to go to,” she said.
“If I need help with homework, I have people to go to, and show choir motivates me to keep my grades up, just do well in school so I can succeed later in life.”
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What: Brown County High School choir department’s sixth annual Coffee Cabaret, with a dessert and coffee reception to follow. There will also be a raffle and silent auction.
When: 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22 in the Brown County High School auditorium. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets: $8 for students and seniors, $10 for adults in advance; $10 for students/seniors and $12 for adults at the door. Kids 5 and under are admitted free.
For more information: Call the high school at 812-988-6606
Facebook: Brown County High School Choirs
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