On Wednesday, January 24, members of the Corry Honors Choir traveled to Allegheny College to compete against other districts during this year’s Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) festival. Corry swept the competition away with seven students out of ten making it to regionals and all ten students being in the top 14 out of their voice section.

There were over 160 students who attended this year’s festival and to end the week, students performed a concert for family and friends to enjoy. The Corry students who had the opportunity to go this year were Lauren Thomas (Soprano 1), Angelica Cressley (Soprano 2), Camryn Fox (Alto 1), Landon Hasbrouck (Tenor 1), Luke Hurd (Tenor 1), Austin Nickerson (Tenor 2), Cooper Slocum (Tenor 2), Hunter LaSalvia (Bass 2), Joseph Johnston (Bass 2), and Noah West (Bass 2).

The PMEA festival provides students with an opportunity to learn challenging music and strengthen their singing skills. It also allows students from other schools to connect with like-minded peers who truly have a passion for music. Students are chosen to be a part of PMEA through a simple auditioning process, where Mrs. Smrcka has a certain number of spots that she is able to fill. Students then spend several weeks after school learning advanced music so that they are prepared for the actual auditions at the festival. When auditioning for regionals, students are asked to sing two songs out of their folder acapella. To add to the stress, students don’t have any previous knowledge on what songs the judges are going to request them to sing. After auditions, the students then spend the next two days working with a director on perfecting their pieces in order to put on a spectacular performance for the community to enjoy. 

Every year there is a different director who chooses songs based on their appreciation of specific composers and style of music. This year the PMEA director that the students had the privilege to work with was Dr. Christopher Kiver. He is a professor of music and director of choral activities at Pennsylvania State University. In addition, he is a Grammy winner for “Best Choral Performance” and “Best Classic Album.” The songs that students sang this year were “Cry Out, and Shout!,” “Veni Sancte Spiritus,” “Do Not Be Afraid,” “My God is a Rock,” “A Palette To Paint Us As We Are,” “No Mirrors in My Nana’s House,” “Invictus,” and “Grace Before Sleep.”

Camryn Fox was asked, “What was your experience like at PMEA this year?” She responded, “I had an amazing experience at PMEA this year! I got to make new friends and build better friendships with people I already know. The pieces were beautiful, and it was so much fun getting to put them together.”