Daniel Fox, Victor Vassallo, and Ben Vastola
Choir Conductor Theodore Thorpe III continues to vault T.C. choir to stardom, as it was one of the elite choirs selected to participate in the Music For All National Choir Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana this spring. This festival has operated for 40 years. It invites a total of 12 choirs each year to celebrate their musical excellance. Junior choir member Ben Williams said, “To me it means that our choir is being recognized as one of the top dogs, top of the food chain.”
On October 9, Music For All representatives Lori Lobsiger and Kim Mann came to T.C. to officially invite the choir to festival. Lobsiger said, “[The judges] knew that someone in the school system was teaching music, not just choir, music, as shown by your performance.”
The choir sent in multiple pieces to be judged, such as “John Saw da Numba” and “Ukrainian Hallelujah.” The Colore Dolce, the most advanced choir, sent in “All the Things You Are” and “Now Let Me Fly.” These songs were judged by four conductors of nationally recognized choirs.
This will be the first time for the choir at this event. Thorpe said, “This event is completely new. We will take a completely new repertoire. It will not be the repertoire that was put on the recording. We usually send in about 20 to 25 minutes worth of music and then from there you narrow down as you get closer to the event.”
At the event, students practice with a variety of highly talented conductors, such as Andre Thomas and Joseph Flummerfelt, on various techniques and styles. Each of the 12 choirs will have a one hour clinic with a top choral conductor. There will also be a banquet, performances by each choir and opportunities for the choirs to socialize with the other 11 choirs.
Thorpe said, “[What] I want the choir is to broaden their musicality as they will be getting valuable information from some of the top choral conductors in the nation and to come back with a renewed sense of purpose of how they approach music.”
The choir has already started to prepare for the event. They already meet after school three days a week and will continue to do so until the festival. Thorpe said, “We are working on a spiritual called ‘Daniel.’ We are also working on a contrasting piece called ‘Had I The Heavens Embroidered Clothes.’ We are also looking at some other pieces, some new pieces. We like to champion new music so that is primarily what we are working on right now.”
The recognition the choir has obtained is welcome, but Thorpe’s sights remain on the big picture. Thorpe said, “I just want to continue to accentuate that music is a very cross curricular subject, it is very vital to the entire human being. The art should always be kept alive and we celebrate the arts here in Alexandria and all throughout ACPS so we want to keep moving it forward and we want to continue a vertical instruction not just in high school but in the middle school and elementary school level because we believe that students that come through a fine arts program end up as well rounded individuals.”
The festival will take place March 14-16, 2019. The choir is confident in its ability and has faith in its conductor. T.C. senior and Secretary of the choir Aiden White said, “Thorpe means choir and choir means ohana and ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”
