Arts Student of the Week: Greta Stauch

Greta Stauch has a passion for choral music. The Niwot High School sophomore describes the music as "a group of people attempting to blend their voices into one sound with as much beauty as possible." Succeeding in choir, she said, "requires a deep understanding of vocal technique as well as music as a whole. Sight reading and music theory skills play a large part in contributing to a strong choral group."

Laura Walters, the Choral Music Director at Niwot High School, selected Stauch as the Arts Student of the Week. Stauch is a sophomore in Evenstar, the top choral ensemble at NHS, and this year she helped choreograph a song for the group at the high school's last concert.

"She is an incredible musician," Walters said. "She can sight-read really well, has a gorgeous voice, and is a great member and leader for both choir and our music theater class."

Stauch comes from a musical family. She started studying music when she was seven, the age at which her parents signed up all of their children for piano lessons.

"I had great experiences with my music teachers in middle school," Stauch said, "especially with my orchestra teacher in sixth and seventh grade, and I think that and the amount of singing I was surrounded by in my early childhood really led to how invested I am in performing arts today."

Stauch continued choir between middle school and high school. "My experience with the choir program so far has been incredible," she said. "I love both the teacher and the accompanist, and some of my closest friends in high school are people I met through the choir program."

According to Walters, Stauch auditioned and made it into the St. Vrain Valley School District honor choir with the highest audition score for her voice part. The audition process for district honor choir includes a solo performance and tests on melodic sight reading, rhythmic sight reading, recognizing and producing intervals, singing three different triads, and singing three different scales.

At NHS the choral students spend at least some time every rehearsal practicing each of those things to prepare for the district and state honor choirs. "She is hard working and also very kind and humble about her skill," Walters said.

Originally, Stauch was not supposed to work on the choreography for Evenstar, but Cayla Piper, the person in charge, wanted a second person to provide a wider variety of ideas, so Stauch stepped in. She collaborated with Piper to choreograph the dance. Staunch said, "It helped a lot that I had someone to work with and run ideas by, especially because it made it possible for us to choreograph partner sections. Honestly, she deserves as much if not more credit for the dance as I do, but neither of us could do it without the other."

In addition to the music she performs with the choir, Stauch also enjoys listening to contemporary popular music. If she had to choose, she said, she would select Sammy Rae & the Friends as her favorite musical group, a band she has only recently discovered.

Last year she performed in an informal band called Dark D, with four other musicians from Niwot, most of whom were in the High School's choir program. Most of the other band members graduated last year, so now she only sings occasionally with a group of friends who are all in the jazz band at NHS. "But we don't really ever perform for anyone," she said.

Stauch also plays varsity soccer for both Niwot High School and a club team, and she loves baking and reading. Although she admits that nothing is set in stone yet, she would love to end up at Vanderbilt some day to study psychiatry or psychology. "My goal is to go abroad after undergrad for grad school somewhere in Europe," she said, "but all of my plans are subject to change. Beyond that, I leave my career plans up to whatever opportunities come my way."

"In my opinion," Stauch admits, "the secret to my success has been the friends I have made and the fact that I've have followed the Niwot feeder program since I started kindergarten, so I am surrounded by many of the same people I have been for the past 10 years."