By Stephen Cook
Although the college’s choirs only meet for three hours a week, they are closely united by one thing: a shared passion for music.
The college has two choirs: the Chamber Choir, made up of anywhere from 20 to 40 students with varying skill levels, and MadRegalia, which is a group of eight of the most talented singers.
Nick Chance, student, sings in both the Chamber Choir and MadRegalia. He received a scholarship for singing in the choir after coming here from KU. Chance, a multi-instrumentalist and drummer for the Kansas City Chiefs drumline, said he finds the human voice unique and special to hear.
“Part of what I really enjoy is hearing the human voice without the technological touch ‘cause most of our world today is technological sound and we kind of lose musicality in that,” Chance said.
Although Chance does not plan on going into a career in music, it is still a passion. For him, it’s something fun that keeps him going.
“[Students in choir are] all going their separate ways for majors, not everyone in choir here is a music major,” Chance said. “It’s a lot of fun to see how far people can progress toward a similar goal from such different backgrounds.”
The choir comes together under the direction of Dr. Terri Teal, professor of vocal music, who is the leader of the two choirs at the college. The choirs put on approximately two concerts a semester, in addition to participating in special events around and off campus.
Although the choirs work hard, Teal said her biggest obstacle as a teacher is getting students up to speed in their sight reading.
“I think life is too short to learn everything by rote. We could do more music and go faster [with better sight reading].”
With this in mind, Teal said she tries to choose “good choral literature” that is appropriate for her choirs.
“I do not want to give them something they will lose at, I will give them as challenging as I think they can win and sing well and learn from,” Teal said. “We usually pull ‘em off and I think part of that’s because I think I choose well for my students.”
One of Teal’s favorite parts about the choirs at the college is the learning process, being able to push her students and hold them to a “pretty high standard.”
“I feel like I really can help people wherever they are become better, get more skilled, get more choral skills learn more music, learn how to sing more musically,” Teal said. “I find that my students … really love music and that love for music and the passion for it and the passion for singing and the choral arts … makes them more open to making mistakes and learning and trying to improve and trying to get better and that is really, really fun. I love thinking about where we start and where we end up and how far it goes.”
This journey has helped student Alex Velasquez improve his conducting skills as well. Velasquez is another one of the eight students who sings in the MadRegalia choir. Velasquez was able to work with Teal to take a private conducting course which allowed him to conduct and rehearse with the chamber group for a piece in time for their concert. Velasquez described this as his “favorite experience with the choir.”
“It’s like I got to experience both sides of music, both being in charge of making it happen and then actually doing the playing,” Velasquez said. “If it weren’t for my time here at the choir, I would have never gotten to do something that neat before.”
Velasquez said with each semester he feels more and more at home in the choir, growing to become friends with other members.
“My favorite aspect about the choir is probably still the feeling I have for everyone there, my strong friendship ties with the members in the choir,” Velasquez said. “It would not be the same choir without those people and the relationship among members of the ensemble is one of the key elements to a great ensemble.”
That sense of relationship rings true for Chance as well. He said although members come and go from the choir, they have still been able to bond and sustain a friendship.
“The MadRegalia choir has really become a very close knit second family to me,” Chance said. “The other part of what makes this so great is that we get to share it with people … and show people how much it means to us, and hopefully to them.”
From group to group, Teal said it is the students that make the choirs special. They let their love of singing and music be the final thing when it comes to how they approach what they do together.
“I actually think choirs are one of our last communities, we can’t do it technologically, we can’t do it online,” Teal said, “We have to come together and make a community and we have to live together and we have to work together, despite our differences.”
Contact Stephen Cook, editor-in-chief, at scook35@jccc.edu