High Schoolers Galore!
Since last Thursday afternoon Concordia College crawled with high schoolers. Now these aren’t just any regular high schoolers, these are extremely musically talented high schoolers. Thursday afternoon kicked off the beginning of the annual Music Performance Scholarship competition. Music Scholarship has always been important to me because it is the reason that I knew I was meant to go to Concordia. I have always wanted to make the students’ stay at Concordia to be as inviting, encouraging, and fun as it was for me. So Maren Krohg and I had been working almost relentlessly to find hosts for all of these wonderful students, and the day had finally arrived where we could meet all of the faces that we only had names to thus far.By the time my class ended at 4pm Hvidsten Hall of Music was packed with slightly anxious, excited, and well-dressed seniors in high school. After a wonderful rehearsal before the concert that night, Maren and I headed to the Music Scholarship banquent with Dr. Clausen. It was great to sit and talk with some of these high-schoolers and hear their stories and how they were feeling about their auditions. The concert that night was fantastic, and I wondered if any of those competitors felt the same way I did 4 years ago. Friday I spent the day giving tours, talking with parents, helping people find their way around, taking students and parents to lunch, etc. Later on, after all the Music Scholarship students had left, a few of us from Concert Choir began setting up 250 chairs for the high schoolers that were about to arrive for High School Choir Days. Saturday was spent rehearsing with students from 4 different schools, and then the afternoon was filled with wonderful music from the Concert Choir and these 4 high schools. We had a nice break on Sunday and then Monday we were all treated to one of the choirs from Farmington High School. Our conducting class listened to them and watched their conductor (a former Cobber), and then watched Dr. Clausen work with both students and conductor. That afternoon we listened to them and then they stayed for the rest of our rehearsal. Shortly after 6:00 the music building was silent, save for the voices of musical Cobbers practicing or laughing at each other’s jokes and conversations.