East Area Choral Festival Brings Students Together

Students from across the East district gathered Tuesday night for the annual East Area Choral Festival. Choir students from East feeder elementary schools and Indian Hills performed, as well as the East Choraliers and Chamber Singers.

“It’s a great way to tie in all [of] the choir program from the beginning to the end of our schooling,” East choir director Ken Foley said. “The sixth graders, come over and sort of experience what it’s like to be in the middle school choir, because they hear them sing, and also the middle school students, who are eighth graders, get to experience what it sort of is like at the top level of the high school.”

The middle school students and sixth graders sang a selected piece with the East Choraliers, creating a chorus of over 400 students. Previous to the festival, students worked in their separate choirs to prepare the song, then met Tuesday morning in the gym to rehearse it together a couple times.

“It’s just a great way to tie it all together,” Foley said. “To sing all together as sixth grade through 12th is a really neat thing at that event.”

The annual “Chipotle Tour”, which takes place after the festival, is another way that allows elementary and middle school kids to see what it is like to be in the high school choir. Foley enjoys seeing the younger kids aspire to be in the higher level choirs and one day get there.

“[My favorite part of the festival is], I think, just the camaraderie of the teachers that are all working toward the same end,” Foley said. “We’re all trying to teach good habits and choral music and just to sort of see it all come together, and see that whole vertical pattern of what goes on in our system, is really fun.”