Southwest choir students take field trips next week

Published 10:30 am Friday, May 22, 2009

A Minnesota Perpich Center for the Arts grant will enable Southwest Middle School choirs to take enrichment field trips in late May.

Students in the seventh-grade choir will travel to Albert Lea High School on Thursday for a performance by the Minnesota Opera Company. In preparation for the Thursday performance, Minnesota Opera performers will present a short workshop on Tuesday of the same week in choir class to give students background information, making the Thursday performance more meaningful.

Also funded by the Perpich Center for the Arts grant, The eighth-grade choir will travel to the Twin Cities on Friday to participate in the Trills and Thrills Choral Festival.

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The music education side of the field trip is a performance of two or three of the group’s concert songs from the year for qualified judges that listen, evaluate and score the choir in a non-competitive setting. The performance will be held at Highland Park High School in St. Paul as organized by the Trills and Thrills organization. The choir receives a plaque of participation, students receive a ribbon of participation and the group receives a rating with taped and written comments on the performance.

After singing, the group will proceed to Valleyfair for a few hours of recreation in the afternoon before returning to Albert Lea.