RMCA Hosts Middle School Choir Festival

Karen Hannahoe, choir festival clinician at Rocky Mountain Christian Academy’s (RMCA) first middle school choir festival, had some advice for some 470 middle school choir students, “Be grateful. Be humble. Be kind.”

The event, which took place at Rocky Mountain Christian Church on March 14, included performances from seven local schools, with critique sessions and whole group activities led by Hannahoe, choir teacher at Nevin Platt Middle School in Boulder.

The festival itself was the brainchild of RMCA choir director Luke Gray and Sunset Middle School choir teacher Nathan Wubbena.

“We feel like there are plenty of options for high school but not for middle school aged choir. We wanted to take care of our district and encourage our students,” Gray said.

“I know they took away some good ideas about how to engage their audience when they perform and how to embody the emotion of the piece,” Wubbena said. “They also got to see the great things that other middle schools in our district are doing, and got some good reinforcement in many of the things that I talk about in class.”

Though it is still undecided whether or not the festival will become an annual tradition, both teachers felt there was much inspiration gained from this year’s event.

“We can always aspire to be better musicians,” Gray said. “There’s always something to work on, always something to teach.”