2014 Tennessee Treble Honor Choir

At the beginning of the school year, Justice auditioned for the Tennessee Treble Honor Choir.  The way it works is that school choir directors make audition tapes for their students and send them in to the state appointed chorister for the  honor choir.  The state chorister selects the students for the choir, and sends the  music selections back to the school for the student(s) to practice in the months leading up until the actual performance.  Six students were selected from Justice's school to be a part of this year's honor choir.  The children perform at the annual Tennessee Music Education Association's conference.  Justice and the other six children stayed after school to practice twice a week for months leading up to the actual performance.

The music was not easy to learn.  He practiced a lot.  Many many hours of singing the same songs over and over again, but only certain parts because the kids are split up by note range and some sing higher or lower than others so they all sing different parts of the song.  In one of the songs, there were seven different rounds, and Justice had to learn three of them.  It really opened my eyes to how difficult choral singing can be.  And did I mention one of the songs was in Hawaiian?

The conference is held in different locations throughout Tennessee, and luckily for me it was held right here in Memphis this year.  Not so lucky for Justice because he didn't get to travel to a new location, but lucky for me because I was able to chaperone since it was only a two day trip.  The kids got to stay in a hotel in Memphis because of the practice schedule, so it all worked out for them. They didn't really mind not leaving the city.

We registered and I think the highlight of their day was receiving a "credentials" badge that they had to flash to get into the orchestra hall.  They thought they were pretty awesome.

See that young lady behind Justice?  She was the best photo bomber I've ever seen.  There are hundreds of parents and teachers sifting through photos today and this girl will be in 75% of them.

Speaking of young ladies, did I mention Justice was the only boy in his group?  Justice sings very high "for a boy".  He was a First Soprano in this choir, and in "Choir for Dummies" terms, that means he sings higher than the rest of them.  And thankfully, he embraces that and is cool with it.  He will never be a tenor, even after puberty ravages his vocal chords.  Not gonna happen. 

This is the group of students I helped chaperone.  They were mostly charming. 

The first day, they had a grueling practice.  Who knew choir practice could be labeled as grueling?  The kids had a five hour practice the first afternoon.  FIVE STRAIGHT HOURS of singing and practicing.  They had an absolutely magical conducter.  Dr. Andrea Ramsey worked those kids to the bone that first day.  She let them know right off the bat that choral singing at this level was hard work and she wasn't kidding.  Some of the kids were frustrated to tears.  They feverishly took notes, they sang over and over and over again.  Some nearly fainted.  But she was so loving with them, and I was really impressed.  Justice was in awe of her.  She was truly incredible.  I knew the rehearsal session was going to be long, so I brought magazines and an iPad to keep me busy for that five hour stretch.  I never opened my bag!  I watched every single second of that rehearsal in absolute awe of what they were accomplishing up on the stage.  And the venue itself was fantastic.  They performed at the Cannon Center in Memphis, and the acoustics were phenomenal.  It also helped the importance of the choir sink in their little heads.  

I taped a few pieces of the rehearsal session, and I'm glad I did because they don't allow taping of the actual performance.  I was able to order a DVD of the performance, but of course it won't be here for six weeks.

This was my favorite song, but I was only able to capture a piece of it.  It's the one sang in Hawaiian.  It was absolutely beautiful.

OK, I have to be really honest here.  I pestered my Facebook friends to death during this trip with a whole bunch of trip updates.  I had a blast.  It was SO MUCH FUN.  It was fun because we have six kids, and nobody so far has shown any interest in music at all with the exception of Justice.  They each played several different sports and I have spent a good portion of my adult life sitting on the sidelines or working concession stands of dozens of fields across the country.  Of course I do whatever it takes to support the hobbies of my children, and I do it without complaining.  But boy howdy, let me tell you this was an AWESOME change of pace for me!  I think I had a better time than the kids.  The keynote speakers were great, the staff and teachers were great, and the conductors were just flat out awesome.

And what a phenomenal experience for Justice.

We walked around downtown a little bit after practice because the kids desperately needed to decompress.  They were so drained.  We ate dinner at a local restaurant, and then we let the kids take the trolley back to the Cannon Center.

And then the hotel overbooked by hundreds of rooms.  We were initially right across the street and within easy walking distance from rehearsals.  Suddenly we were sent to a hotel 40 minutes away from the Cannon Center.  Ugh.  

In hindsight, this was a huge blessing.  There were a thousand kids in that first hotel, because youth honor choirs and ensembles of all ages were performing at this conference.  It was mayhem.  COMPLETE mayhem.

But not at our hotel.  There were only a few other kids there, and it was quiet.  The kids had the pool all to themselves.  THAT was great and made the 40 minute drive completely worthwhile.  The hotel that overbooked us comped us free valet parking while we were there too so getting to rehearsal was not a problem.

The girls threw Justice around the pool like a rag doll. He was much smaller than any of them.  And he was fairly annoyed by the girls the entire trip.  In a few years he will think it's awesome to be the only guy in a group of girls, but at the tender age of barely-12 that is all lost on him.  

I'm not complaining.  

The next morning we got up a 5 because we needed to be at the Cannon Center for sound check at 7:30.  The kids were no problem whatsoever and we made it there in plenty of time.  They all looked so sharp.

Justice is in the third row from the bottom, and is the third kid from the left. 

And when those children opened their mouths to sing, the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard came out of their mouths. All that hard work payed off a thousand times over the minute they began to sing. It was beautiful. 

The program.  

I am so glad he has taken an interest in music.  I look back on that post that I wrote called Wait, you want to try out for WHAT? and I am so glad that he had the guts to try out, even though I tried to discourage him.  I have learned such a great parenting lesson from this whole process.  Justice's singing abilities rivaled that of a fence-post alley cat back when he auditioned for that first choir.  And under the right teacher and with the right amount of confidence and instruction, he improved so much that he got a once in a childhood opportunity to sing in an honor choir.  All because he worked hard, and all because he didn't listen to me.  I was afraid of him getting his feelings hurt.  And I know it's good for kids to take chances, and if it doesn't work out the way they want it to work out, getting their feelings hurt won't kill them either.  Being let down is a part of life, and although as parents we never want to see our kids hurt, it's a skill necessary to get them through life.  

This was definitely not a letdown.   This was AMAZING.