SHINING UNDER THE SHOW CHOIR LIGHTS

Clear Creek Amana High School is full of talent! We have many singers, dancers, and actors attending our school who are constantly working hard on their talents. What happens when these three types of talent combine? The product of that is our school’s show choir! A show choir is a group of around 30 singers and dancers who all collaborate to put on a 15-25 minute long performance for their audience. This year, our show choir’s show theme was Alice in Wonderland! The show featured Mackenzie Burnett as Alice, Devon Choun as the Mad Hatter, Morgan Downes as the Queen of Hearts, Nic Schieltz as the Cheshire Cat, and an amazing ensemble of background singers and dancers. Alice in Wonderland was an amazing performance with outstanding vocal performances, beautiful costumes, and enticing choreography. This season’s hard work has really paid off as the show choir has put on many great shows!

Hayden Bailey (middle) and Morgan Downes (right) performing Alice in Wonderland show choir show; photo by Bash Corley

Behind the show choir is our show band! The band isn’t seen very well behind all the dancers, but they’re equally important. The show band performs all of the music that the choir dances and sings to. They rehearse every Wednesday and occasionally on Thursdays starting in September, continuing until March when the season is over. During those rehearsals, they learn and perfect their songs. That’s hours and hours of work for 15-25 minute shows! The hard work the band members put into rehearsals pays off, though, because their performances are outstanding! The music they play can be very difficult, but they always get through it and put on their best show. 

The show choir and band aren’t only together when they’re playing. They have lots of time between their performances, and the members have spent some time outside of performances and rehearsals. Some of the members of both of these ensembles have shared their favorite memories of this season’s downtime, so let’s hear them! Starting with the show choir, Carson Brandt says that his favorite memory is singing Bohemian Rhapsody before a show to get the crowd hyped. He also enjoyed getting to be with his friends during the whole season. Nic Schieltz’s favorite part of the season, like Carson’s, was being able to perform with his friends and share an amazing season with everybody. Talking to new people she hadn’t really spoken to before and getting close to them over the season was Zoe Ratliff’s  favorite   memory  this  year,   and  Van  Peterson’s   favorite  memory  was seeing all those new people grow and learn together. Summer Stiltner’s memory really shows the positivity and fun of the show choir. Before the awards at the Benton competition, the members all agreed to cheer as loud as they could, no matter how they placed. When they were announced in last place, they still cheered and put on their best performance of “We Are the Champions” as they received their last place trophy. These memories show us just how much fun being part of the show choir is. For some members, the choir feels like a family. It’s no wonder they return each year!

The show band’s members have just as much fun as the choir members! When they’re not busy perfecting their music, the members spend time together and make many memories. Here are some of those memories: Natalie Schieltz, a clarinet player, says that her favorite memory this season was playing volleyball at Anamosa and then hitting the cupid shuffle when the song suddenly came on. The other clarinet player, Noah Bourget, brings up the first competition of the season, where he and his friends grabbed inflatables and fought each other with them. The band’s lead trumpet player, Nohea Cabrera, found the bus rides together to and from all of the competitions and performances. The show band has also created several great memories that haven’t been mentioned here. The members of the band spend so much time together that the fun memories are endless and it would be impossible to mention them all here, so ask some of your show band friends about their season! Maybe you’ll even consider joining show band to be part of these experiences.

Show choir and show band are over this year, but the great memories will stay with the members for the rest of their lives. Ask anyone and they’ll say that the hard work of rehearsals and performances is completely worth all the amazing memories they make throughout the season.