Choir Director Abbe Lane is managing the Soundwave show choir group as they prepare for a debut performance on February 28. Auditions were held on Dec. 3, bringing in 11 new members, six of which are freshmen.
“Show choir consists of a group of singer dancers who perform popular music by singing and dancing. This group in particular performs at Solo & Ensemble events,” Lane said. “But, if we were at a bigger school, more competitive show choirs would go to competitions around the state and compete with 15 to 20 other show choirs at each competition for judging on their movements, their singing, their overall exciting vibe. I love show choir, period.”
The district Solo & Ensemble performance ranks groups by tallying points; each additional point counts negatively towards the score. To advance to state, groups and soloists must fit into the starred first category, earning between five and eight points.
“I’m hoping we go to state again for Solo & Ensemble, that we get another starred first,” senior Taylor Helmuth said.
Earning the opportunity to go to state is something many students look forward to. Performances take place at UW-Oshkosh, and offer a larger, more professional stage to work with. Last year’s event was a close call, giving Lane something to work off of for this season.
“I want to make it to state for Solo & Ensemble, and I want to get the highest rating you can. Last year, we kind of barely made it. I want to work on refining the sections that we got the lowest scores in. We hear every year that we need to contain our foot noise, so we’re going to work on that,” Lane said.
Show choir works in two parts: vocal and physical. Lane looks for both aspects during auditions.
“I put a piece of music in front of them and they sing it. We sing it a couple times and then they audition with it. I’m looking for projection in their voice in particular, because we’re not a mic’d ensemble, so they need to be able to project,” Lane said. “On the dancing side, I look to see how quickly you’re learning the material. Once we get into spring semester, we learn a lot of dances, like back-to-back weeks. I’m also looking at stage presence.”
The dancing aspects of show choir are arranged from multiple sources, in and out of the school.
“We always have student choreographers,” Lane said. “One of my goals this year is to let the kids be more involved.”
In addition to student choreography, alumna Rebecca McMartin also has a history involvement. McMartin will be in charge of this year’s Solo & Ensemble routine.
“I’ve helped out with Berlin musicals since 2016. My junior year, I asked Mrs. Utecht if I could help with a few numbers in Mary Poppins, and she took a leap of faith and let me. When I was a senior, she handed me choreography score and said “have fun!” She continued to ask me every year since then,” McMartin said. “So far I’ve choreographed: Fiddler on the Roof, Newsies, Elf, The Little Mermaid, the Addams Family, Legally Blonde, Percy Jackson, and this year’s Seussical. This is the first year I’ve done show choir, but I am excited to work with the students for whatever fun numbers Ms. Lane picks. I enjoy the challenge of branching out!”
On the topic of branching out, Lane encourages Soundwave members to really embrace the dancing part of show choir.
“I tell my dancers all the time, you need to dance all the way through your fingers and all the way through your toes. Even in your audition, I need to see that you’re trying to do that. Not everybody’s going to be good at it for an audition. Not everybody’s a dancer, but I want to see that people are trying,” Lane said.
And try, they did. Every student who auditioned for show choir this year earned a spot in the group, giving them a total of 24 performers. The number of freshmen in particular was surprising compared to other years.
“Last year I only had one freshman audition.This six is bigger than usual. Before that, I think the biggest group was five,” Lane said.
One student, freshman Coralyn Swallish, set goals this year to enjoy her first year as part of the group.
“My goal is to work together well as a group and make sure we feel confident in all of our performances,” Swallish said. “I’ve always really enjoyed music and learning new things involving music. I also like dance, so I thought it’d be a fun combination to try. I’ve always watched past show choir performances and admired them.”
Auditions were just the first step, rehearsals for this group begin Jan. 5. It’s not much time to prepare, but students are excited to learn and grow as a team.
“I like when we have all the dances learned and we can run through them over and over again. That’s probably the best part,” Helmuth said. “I really enjoy it. I look forward to performing every year.”
