NHS Show Choirs Making Us Proud

Some days I wish that high school show choir competition season would never end.

I love traveling to the contests on the weekends and watching all of the show choirs perform their best.

Most every competition day begins with students rising early in the morning to board school buses to travel to a competition.

And just as soon as they reach their destination, they begin preparing for their first competition, warming up 30 minutes before they take the stage. Last weekend, Sensation, NHS’s all-female show choir, was the first of NHS show choirs to compete in the morning, then New Dimension, NHS’s top all-female show choir, competed later in the morning.

Just after noon, preliminary awards were announced, with New Dimension earning best vocals and best visual and best performer (congratulations Kessa Bruce) moving on to the univoice division finals at the Circle City Showcase at Warren Central High School. NHS Singers, Noblesville’s mixed show choir, competed late in the afternoon and moved on to the mixed division finals.

All of this competing and moving on to finals competitions make for long days for the singers as well as the parents who are spectators as well as some who are chaperones and roadies (who help set up the stage for performances).

But all of the time and effort make it all worth it. Last Saturday, New Dimension performers took home the first-place trophy in their univoice division, and NHS Singers earned first runner-up (second place) in their mixed division. Each of the two divisions had 10 competing choirs.

By the time the final awards were announced, and NHS trophies were accepted, it was midnight. And by the time that the choirs packed up and boarded the buses and returned to school, it was 1 a.m.

This season, New Dimension has also earned champion, best visuals, best vocals and best stage crew, and NHS Singers earned best visuals, best vocals and champion, in each of their divisions, at Jay County High School;  New Dimension and NHS Singers each placed second in their divisions at; at Beech Grove; and New Dimension earned first place, Sensation runner-up in their division, and NHS Singers placed first runner-up in their division at Plainfield Quaker Classic Invitational.

NHS Choir Director John Neubauer is happy about this year’s show choir season. “The students have been motivated and driven to improve throughout the season,” he said. “I think presentations have only improved every week.”

Less than two weeks ago, NHS Singers and New Dimension traveled five hours northwest to Davenport, Iowa, to compete in a broadway-style theater against choirs they hadn’t ever seen. It was a three-day trip with the two choirs, along with the choir’s band, The Main Event, chaperones and roadies, staying in an adjacent hotel. New Dimension singers won champion in their division and NHS Singers came in third runner-up in their division. While the competition was tough, we beat some really good choirs.

“We had a great time in Iowa,” Neubauer said. “The students performed well off the stage and on. I think we left positive marks and made an impression on choirs from far away who now know that NHS is a great school for choir. It was also nice for the students to see a similar but not identical approach to music making taking place in another part of the country.”

How are these competitions good for NHS choirs?

“They have learned, of course, different styles and presentation styles of music. I think the groups have increasingly learned about coming out of their shell and showing their own personality on stage and how important those skills are,” Neubauer said.

What has the choir director learned? “Since I’ve been through this as a student, practice teacher and director, many, many times, I think I have learned many things. Currently, I stress less about all the competitors’ shows,” Neubauer said. “I know if we put out our production, we will do well.”

While this season is winding down, Neubauer is getting ready for the next season. Video auditions were due Tuesday for the 2023-24 show choir season. “We will complete auditions and go to work on the future. It is going to be great,” he said.

In our household, this is our daughter’s fourth year in a Noblesville show choir. She signed up for choir in sixth grade and then auditioned again for her seventh- and  eighth-grade years for Vocal Revolution show choirs at Noblesville East Middle School.

Then Covid hit during her eighth-grade year, and she didn’t get to finish the second semester. While she auditioned for and was invited to be a member of NHS’s Sensation unisex (all-female) choir for her freshman year, she passed on the opportunity and the hybrid schedule due to the pandemic.

In the spring of her freshman year, she auditioned and was invited to join New Dimension, which travels to competitions with NHS Singers. Sophomore year, our daughter auditioned within New Dimension for solos for the competition set and was chosen to sing the “Fabulous Baby!” solo that opened every New Dimension competition set. Impressive for a sophomore, I’m told.

In the spring of our daughter’s sophomore year, she made another audition video and was invited to move up and join NHS Singers. Within Singers, this school year she auditioned for a duet, receiving callbacks until the NHS choir directors found the male-female duet who blended well together. At every NHS Singers’ competition this season, this same lead couple sings the duet, which will be performed on March 16 for an All-District Showcase concert that’s open to the public, with limited number of tickets, for $10 and $15, on sale now at nhscpo.org/.

“This is a celebration of Noblesville’s dedication to quality show choir. It’s amazing,” Neubauer said of the upcoming concert.

With only one more competition this season — NHS Singers and New Dimension will travel to Fairfield, Ohio, in March —  it seems the time has just flown by.

Neubauer said, “I will miss it for sure. The closeness, the spirit of the students. But the weather will change, and sports will start, and the time to move forward arrives.”

-Contact Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com