Four students traveled to Lee University for the annual Honor Choir this semester where they learned new techniques and skills, performed with students across the state, learned from professionals, and gained invaluable experience.
At Lee, students learn from in-demand clinicians. Students worked with Dr. Cameron Weatherford who serves as an assistant professor of choral music at Lee University and Eliezer Yanson Jr. who is a professor of music and director of choral activities at Jacksonville State University.
Yanson Jr. conducted Treble Choir, and Weatherford conducted Tenor/Bass Choir.
Choral students are chosen to represent their schools at this experience by their high school choral directors.
“I think it’s important for students to do these types of events to broaden their musical horizons and to meet other students from around the community who may have larger choir programs or smaller choir programs and come from different backgrounds,” said Tyler Shaw, choir director.
“They all come together to work on choir songs, and they work together to achieve a common goal,” he continued.
Santiago Escamilla ‘25 mirrored those thoughts explaining the impact of meeting hundreds of choral students from 25 different schools and performing with them.
“It felt really easy to adapt to singing with a large group of singers, especially because everybody was friendly, and everybody was inspiring each other, and especially during rehearsals, because everyone was really positive, and everybody had a really good vibe,” Escamilla said.
At the end of the performance, both the girls’ and boys’ choirs sang together, which was Charlotte Toy’s “favorite memory from the experience.”
“It was a really great moment,” said Toy ‘26. “We were all packed in. The feeling was just wonderful — hearing all of our voices together.”
Students also had the opportunity to immerse themselves in learning new music.
“My favorite song was probably ‘You Will Be Found’ because it has such a wonderful message that even when you’re down and even in your darkest days, that you'll be fine and there is help,” said Rasmus Wolter ‘27.
Caden Williams ‘25 expressed similar thoughts about the deeper meaning and rawness of the music.
“I think a lot of the music was really vulnerable, and I think that was on purpose,” Williams said.
“Because it was so emotionally charged and because we only had two days as a large honor choir together, it made it a lot easier to connect with your peers,” he continued.
Congratulations to our Honor Choir students! We’re grateful for the immense impact this experience had on our students.
To watch the performance, click here.