On March 7, the chorus classes had their Large Group Performance Evaluation, known as LGPE, and received all superiors for their pieces with all superiors and one excellent for sight-reading. 

One student, Zasha Maciel, 9, is in the Intermediate Mixed chorus. When asked how she felt leading up to her class’ LGPE, Maciel said, “we practiced a lot and I felt like we were ready enough with the songs we had. We were kind of worried about what we would do because we were under pressure.” 

Maciel goes on to describe her experience in the intermediate mixed chorus this year, “It’s cool because some of the songs are nice. I like chorus in high school. I like it way better than middle school because we’re doing more things.”

Another student, Spencer Andrews, 10, is in the Mastery and Advanced chorus class’. Andrews describes his own experience at LGPE, “I was so nervous, and I couldn’t breathe, but when you take a second and realize that you’ve been doing this forever it doesn’t change how you’re doing.”

Andrews has been in chorus since kindergarten. Andrews describes what he likes about chorus, “It’s helped me with my own confidence because although you’re singing in a group it’s about relying on other people and relying on yourself to do the right thing,” He continues, saying, “It’s also the sense of community and everybody is there because they love music.” 

Max Ezell, 11, is in the Mastery Course and the Advanced Treble chorus class’. When asked how their class felt before LPGE, Ezell said, “we were tired from sitting there all the time and when we got to the warm-up room we were all really hyped up.” 

Ezell reflects on how the Mastery Chorus did, “we worked really hard on those pieces. We did reps and reps, so I think that we definitely earned it.” 

Ezell has been part of the Mill Creek chorus for three years. They say that the reason is because “I want to be a music teacher. The reason I’ve been in chorus is to go to college for choral singing and hopefully become a music teacher.”

Jenezten Gamez , 12, is in the Mastery Chorus. Gamez explains the preparation for LGPE, “for LGPE we had a lot of college professors and other music-related people come in to help us.” 

Gamez has had two chorus teachers in high school. Samuel Potts and Stephanie Archer then transferred to Seckinger. When asked what his experience has been, he says “Under different directions you’re going to get a different sound from your choir, but I feel like both were really good.” 

Mill Creek Chorus Director, Samuel Potts, expressed how he thinks his classes did at LGPE, “I think all the classes did exceptionally well. The music that was chosen for each class was challenging, and they rose to meet that challenge.” 

He continues to describe the emotions he got from his students as LGPE came closer, “They all seemed very excited to show off how hard they’ve been working. I told them right before they walked on stage that it’s important that we sing with the right pitches, rhythms, vowels, and phrasing. But at the same time, have fun and enjoy yourselves.”