By GRAYSON LEE MAXWELL
Rutherford County Schools
In this Q&A interview, Lindsay Halford, fine arts specialist at RCS, sits down to talk about upcoming events – including a very special choir concert happening Monday, Nov. 7.
Q: What events are coming up for RCS fine arts?
A: Our all-county choir event is Monday, Nov. 7. It’s an event to celebrate the excellence and achievements of students in our choral programs. So at the high school level, students just competed at Mid-state and All-state auditions, and we had 125 students who earned Mid-state status. We had 36 students who earned All-state status through those auditions. That’s more than any other Middle Tennessee school district. Every school will be represented at the concert, and in some cases multiple people will represent their school, so we’re celebrating that and the excellence they’ve achieved by having a big concert on Monday.
Q: How are students chosen to participate in the choral concert?
A: They have an audition process they go through, and they have their Mid-state auditions where they have to prepare pieces of music and sight-read music they’ve never seen before. They get scores from that and then we get a breakdown of all the scores of students in our district. Everyone who made Mid-state or All-state automatically gets an invitation.
Q: Who should go to the concert and why should they?
A: Anyone who loves music should attend. Especially if you love singing and choral music because these are the best singers in our county. Anyone who wants to celebrate that and is interested in music and arts in the schools is welcome.
Q: Are there any other events coming up for the arts? Things the community should know about?
A: We have a lot of events that occur at the schools, and we have a calendar on our website. So anyone who’s interested in knowing what's going on if there’s holiday concerts or veterans' day performances — those things are on our fine arts website. But we also have some district things we do each year. In February we’ll have our All-county band concert which is similar to what we’re doing for choir on the seventh.
Q: How hard have the students worked for this day?
A: One thing I love about our choir program is that they’re very collaborative. The teachers will get students together for an audition clinic before these auditions even happen. That’s one reason we have so much success is because our choir directors collaborate with each other and provide opportunities for our kids to learn from choir directors of other schools. Students have worked so hard and put in a lot of hours preparing for this concern on Monday.