NORMAN — More than 200 local students from fourth to eighth grade will participate in the Oklahoma Music Educators Association’s 19th annual Circle the State with Song Festival on Saturday.
As part of CTSWS, each of Oklahoma’s 19 regions presents an individual one-day event in January and February. Saturday’s festival is presented by Region L, which encompasses Cleveland, McClain and Grady counties.
A key element of CTSWS is the all-day rehearsal session each choir has with a guest clinician prior to the performance, designed to help students and teachers acquire new skills in learning and performing challenging pieces.
“Each school’s group has been prepared by their music teacher and learned their respective section of each piece. When they rehearse together as a whole choir, the teachers observe the clinician’s interaction with the students. It’s a great opportunity for everyone,” said Leah Nellis, OMEA Region L representative for the festival.
Region L’s guest clinician and conductor will be Tony Gonzalez from Norman North High School, with accompanist Michael Dean.
This year’s festival choir will perform “Children Go Where I Send Thee,” “Something Told the Wild Geese,” a Greek folk song called “Gerikina” and “Aweigh, Santy Ano.”
Schools from each region send a limited number of students (based on the overall school population), so each festival choir is a compilation of the region’s best young voices.
“The students participating in this festival auditioned and were selected as outstanding performers by their teachers,” Nellis said.
Norman schools represented in the Region L festival will include Adams, Eisenhower, Jackson, Jefferson, Lincoln, McKinley, Monroe, Roosevelt, Washington, Whittier and Wilson.
According to Nellis, another feature of the festival is its participants were able to undergo “even stricter” auditions for the All-State Children’s Choir, whose performance was Friday in Tulsa.
For more information, contact Region L coordinators Tammy Arce at tstephen@norman.k12.ok. us or Sarah Bishop at sbishop@norman.k12.ok.us.
Caitlin Schudalla 366-3541 cschudalla@ normantranscript.com
