CHS choir prepares for competition, trip
January 15, 2009
At 8:25 each school morning, John Langworthy both educates and encourages.
This
particular day, it's hard to tell which is the prominent lesson as his
students, all members of Clinton High's Arrow Singers choir, practice a
requiem by Mozart.
"Sopranos,
let's do all of the top of page 5," Langworthy says, playing each note.
"Once we get the syllables, the rhythm will get easier."
The piece is Lacrymosa, or Day of Silence. The girls softly sing the letter sound "E."
"I will tell you what will happen to your mouth if you don't think about E," he tells them. "It will start spreading."
They sing, their voices becoming more and more soft as Langworthy gently pushes his hand forward.
"Beautiful. You may sit down now," he said.
"What is a requiem?" he asks them. "It's a song for the dead. It's music for the dead. This is an enormously famous requiem."
The
102-member Arrow Singers is practicing the song as a festival piece for
the February district choir competition, with the state competition set
for early April.
Langworthy and his students, however, can't help but look a year beyond that.
The
Arrow Singers have been invited to sing at New York City's Lincoln
Center in January 2010, performing Rene Clausen's "Memorial" under the
direction of Mississippi College Department of Music chair James
Meaders.
Meaders was asked in
2008 to direct his Mississippi College Singers at New York's Carnegie
Hall as part of a choral tribute to mark the birthday of Martin Luther
King Jr. He was asked to return with the MC Singers next January by New
York City-based Distinguished Concerts International.
Meaders
can invite about 200 singers to join him, Langworthy said. The Arrow
Singers are among those Meaders invited, along with a high school
choral group from Arlington, Texas, Langworthy said.
The
Arrow Singers' honor "is a reflection on our whole school," Langworthy
said. "You're not going to be asked if your school does not support the
fine arts."
In his fourth year as
leader of the Arrow Singers, Langworthy said an invitation to sing at
the Lincoln Center was the last thing on his mind when he first formed
the choir.
"Not remotely!" he
laughed. "But I believe good things come for those with good work
ethics. This honor has been bestowed on them because of their
incredible work ethic and sense of family."
And that is what makes the invitation so bittersweet.
This year's senior Arrow Singers, many who started with the group as sophomores, won't get to go. They'll have graduated.
"For
them, this is an unselfish reward," Langworthy said of the 36 seniors.
"They will be rewarded, even if it's not with a trip. This really,
truly defines what a reward is when you may not be able to participate
in it."
When he told the group, Langworthy said, the seniors "were thrilled one second, and then sad because they can't go."
Those were the emotions of senior Kristen Carr, who is serving as the Arrow Singers' president.
"Our
goal in the Arrow Singers is to build a legacy," said Carr, an honors
student. "I'm glad to know I was a part of it, and to help pave the way
for next year's choir to go to New York."
Clinton High junior Eric Shelton is ready to make the trip.
"I
can't wait for it," said the tenor, in his first year as an Arrow
Singer. "The whole experience will be good not just for me, but all of
the choir members, including the new ones who will be sophomores this
fall. They will enjoy this, too."
He prefers singing festival music with the choir over tunes he hears on the radio.
"It gives us a serious tone," he said. "People actually listen to it. It has meaning to it."
It
will cost money - and plenty of it - for the Arrow Singers to make the
trip to New York City. How many students go depends on fundraising
efforts, Langworthy said.
The
choir will rehearse for two days in New York City before taking to the
stage, he said. "We're hoping to go to a couple of Broadway shows and
to see some sights, like Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty," he
said of an adventure that likely will be the first trip to the Big
Apple for most.
The Arrow Singers
have a new booster club that will spearhead fundraising, and Langworthy
will bring fundraising ideas before the Clinton School Board.
"I'm
overwhelmed," he said of the honor. "The Lord has done so many things
to prepare us for this. Our teachers have been so supportive."
As a college freshman, Carr will still have a song in her heart for the Arrows.
"I
am sad that I can't sing with them next year, but I will definitely be
there, even if I have to buy my own plane ticket," she said.
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