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By Mary Kate Nolan
Hometown Weekly Intern
On the evening of June 7, the lively chatter of the audience steadily crescendos as friends and family of the Bird Middle School Seventh and Eighth Grade Chorus trickle into the auditorium. By 7 p.m., the room is packed with parents sharing their children’s latest achievements with one another and taking in the artwork of the students projected onto a screen in the front of the room.
The noise dies down as the seventh grade students take the stage in classic black and white attire. The eyes of the young singers search eagerly for their guests in the crowd and, upon discovering them, the singers blush sheepishly or grin enthusiastically.
Any anxieties of the audience members are put at ease as the chorus finishes its rendition of “The Sky Over Shannon” and the chorus director, Kimberly Welch, begins to guide them through the ominous echoes of “Lightning!” During the transition between groups, Welch commends the seventh grade students on their eagerness to sing in three-part harmony, whereas they had previously only sung in two parts.
Next, the Select Chorus, consisting of students from both Bird Middle School and Johnson Middle School, makes its way to the stage. While Welch confesses to the audience that the group only had the opportunity to rehearse as a whole chorus twice, one certainly could not tell from the harmony of their voices as they sang “May the Road Rise Up,” “A Distant Shore,” and “By the Waters.”
Finally, members of the eighth grade class endeavored to sing in four-part harmony, expanding the repertoire of the chorus with their selection of “When I Was Your Man” by pop singer Bruno Mars. They brought the night to a close with “I Sing Out,” followed by vigorous applause from the members of the audience, who beamed with pride and delight.
Welch, in her second year working at Bird Middle School, was very pleased with the performance, saying “I think the students really rose to the challenge.” The talent and courage displayed by these students will continue to enrich and inspire their community.
