Choraliers Perform New Composition

The choir cracked up. It started as a single laugh penetrating the room, and then grew. The hours of focus was making the students slap happy, including junior Mary Grace Poskin.

Poskin is a member of East’s Choraliers. On March 2, the Choraliers were invited to a clinic with famous composer Eric Barnum. East was invited because they were already rehearsing one of Barnum’s pieces, “The Stars Stand up in the Air.” Barnum held a clinic for the Shawnee Mission area schools and worked with them in preparing his new piece, “The Human Heart.”

“We [got] a chance to have him clinic us for a half hour for the song he just wrote…and combine with the four area high schools and the UMKC choir,” choir director Ken Foley said.

Starting at 2:00 p.m. in the Peace Temple in Independence, Kan., the choirs were taught the entirety of “The Human Heart.” At 7:30 p.m., the students performed their concert. Up until the concert, the students worked with their director, and for the last portion of the clinic they were directed by Barnum.

“It was cool to practice Erik Barnum’s song in front of him,” junior Ida Hvam said. “We got to show him we enjoyed his song.”
As Barnum was instructing the Choraliers, he forgot the name of his new piece and a student began to laugh.
“It wasn’t that funny,” Poskin said. “I think we were just all tired from being there all day. It was definitely a lot of fun though.”