By Audrey Webster | Reporter
From performing with instrumental music to altering their voices to sound identical to the rhythm, the New Horizons choir took on this challenge in preparation for their competition in Albany two weeks ago.
New Horizons includes seniors Heidi Boesl, Lisa Donato, Emily Jacobson, Caitlin Mansfield, Shon Mobley, Lucia Vaughan and Dylon Yoshinaga, junior Andrea Malone and sophomores Brogan Bracelin, Marissa Cato, Quentin Kirk, Ally Putas and Heather Whitty.
Though New Horizons is most interested in providing good music and entertainment for the community, such as visiting younger students at elementary and middle schools, they also like to test their skills against other similar choirs.
The process of adjusting their voices to the rhythm of instrumental music, without actual instrumental accompaniment, is referred to as a cappella. Their most recent competition, “A Cappella in Albany,” was comprised solely of this style, which could be considered challenging to some, but New Horizons feel confident in their abilities.
“We have the talent,” sophomore Quentin Kirk said. “We’re just working on our overall performance.”
New Horizons has also been hard at work on their stage presence. They believe their stage structure is an important factor in their overall performance.
In preparation for the competition, the choir watched video clips of previous performances to determine what adjustments they needed to make. According to Graber, this competition gave New Horizons a chance to try something new.
“This is not a highly competitive competition,” Graber said. “It is mainly for the experience.”
New Horizons continued to practice multiple songs, slowly perfecting each one. The song choices were mainly contemporary, ranging from “Zombie Jamboree” to Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly.”
The event was set up differently from other competitions, consisting of 15 choirs during the course of the day, with all choirs competing to be in the final performance at an evening concert later that night.
Four choirs were chosen to be part of this concert. 15 Miles West, a choir from Western Oregon University, performed with the high school choirs this year.
“I’m really proud of these guys,” Graber said. “They have been working really hard.”
Mobley believed the group was ready.
“We have really improved in the last few weeks,” Mobley said. “We’re very confident in our abilities.”
The group proceeded to have a very successful competition, finishing among the top four choirs and receiving the Judge’s Choice award. According to Mobley, New Horizons was commended on their stage presence and interacting with the crowd more by moving around on stage.
“I think we did absolutely amazing,” Mobley said. “We would love to go back to compete again.”
