Recap of the Fine Arts!

By Randi Miick & Trinity Mathis

June 10, 2016

This school year has gone by fast. It feels like only one day ago, it was the first day. But before the year is over, let’s recap with all the fine arts that have happened throughout the year.

This year, choir got a new choir teacher, Pam Nordquist. Ever since the beginning of the year, both choirs have been rehearsing their music for each concert. Their first concert was on November 3rd, 2015 when they sang eight songs. Their second concert took place December 15, 2015, in which the choirs performed seven songs. The concert after that was held in March or February 2016. They sang seven songs at that concert. And finally, their last concert of the year happened on May 24, when they sang fifteen songs. During this concert, the middle school choir sang with them. But on May 25, Jazz Night happened and the chamber choir sang three jazz songs with the jazz band performing along with them. The chamber choir went to a choir contest sometime in March or April. They also went to a choir festival in April. The choirs have done so much this year.

There are only two choirs here at the high school: the concert choir and the chamber choir. Both choirs have been extremely busy this year rehearsing songs and performing songs for audiences and for contests. All of the songs they have performed this year took a lot of time to rehearse.  

The chamber choir has been busy. They have done many songs this year, as well as going to contests and festivals. Doing about three or more songs per concert, they have been working hard this year to have the songs memorized. The concert choir has also been busy this year, too. They have been working hard to perfect the songs, but they have been practicing reading music and memorizing music when rehearsing it.

Congratulations to all the choir students this year. This has been a great year for the choir, and we hope there is more next year. The choirs this year have been working extremely hard to entertain their audiences with the songs they have chosen for the concerts and it has been a successful year for them.

The bands had many things going on this year. The Marching Band had competitions throughout the fall and winter. They performed at football games and basketball games. They were also the ones who performed the piece Scheherazade at the first band concert and at the football game, along with the Color Guard performing with them. The band’s first concert was in December 2015.  

Symphonic Band also had a great year. The music that they played for us at their concerts never disappoint us. They worked so hard for their music to be perfect. They performed many songs for us during the year. Symphonic band has gone to many competitions throughout the year, along with the other bands. They have won awards before for the band. This has been a great year for symphonic band.  

The Jazz Band has done a great job, as well, performing classic jazz pieces at concerts and competitions. They were also the ones who performed a jazz night with the chamber choir.

Percussion has done a wonderful job this year, too. They prove that you don’t need traditional instruments to make music. You can use different types of drums and other percussion instruments to play.

And lastly, the concert band. The concert band has been working extremely hard this year. The concert band has performed songs with the symphonic band at concerts before. Mr. DeRoest said at a concert that some of the songs that the concert band have performed have been challenging for them, but they have done a great job.

Another thing worth mentioning is that two Phoenix High School band seniors have won awards. Those students are Kathryn Zentgraf, winning the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award , and MacKenzie Weaver, winning the John Philip Sousa Band Award. Congratulations to both and all the Phoenix High School band students. You have done an amazing job this year performing at concert, competitions, and sporting events.

 

For the Theatre department, it has been a fabulous year! They have had two successful main stage shows (Robin Hood and Grease.) Mr. Rhoades and Miss Singleton were a part of our musical. They had the amazing opportunity to work with Jamie Peck, fight director from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Twelve students were inducted into the International Thespian Honor Society. Sophie Stricker was awarded the Thespian of the Year award and five students will be traveling to the International Thespian Festival at the end of this month.  

We interviewed Randi Miick and asked her for one of her favorite experience/ stories from this year in the theatre program, and this is what she said: “I thought Theatre was a very fun experience for me, even though there were a couple of times where it was hard for me to understand and memorize. But because of theatre, I was able to overcome a little bit of my fear of talking in front of people and not being afraid of them judging me, which was nice!

My favorite play that they did was the Adam’s Family. I really liked the characters and the story, the actors did a great job of fulfilling their roles and I was very convinced that they were the actual characters.

I only took Theatre 1  and that was last year, but I still talked to the theatre kids and sometimes helped them with their roles and let them read their scripts to me and I’d say where they should improve and maybe be louder or softer on those parts.”

Next year’s theatre group should be just as amazing if not better than this year’s! Theatre is a great class for those who want to extend their creative side to the next level, and perform in front others who love theatre. Another program that helps you extend your creativity, but is not as flashy, is the art classes here at Phoenix High School.

 

The art classes had a great year, from the beginning to the end. The art class/ club here at Phoenix High School is about spreading the creativity and improving one’s artistic talent to much more advanced levels.

We interviewed Jessica Swift, a sophomore here at Phoenix High School who is in some advanced level art classes and asked her what she thought was the most important projects they worked on this year and this is what she said: “The most important project for Art 2 was probably the acrylic painting we did because we were given a lot of time to work on it and it was a big part of our grade.

For Art 1B, the most important thing we did would be the vase, fish, and paintbrush project because it really teaches shading as well as colored pencil techniques.

In Art 1C, the most important project was the reduction sculpture we did because you had to have a lot of patience for it to look good. The reduction sculpture also was the most difficult because if you mess up you can’t redo it without starting all over again. You just have to live with the mistake.”

Another fun art 3/2 project was the Figure drawing. Some teens volunteered to pose and have the class draw them from whatever angle they were at. It was a fun experience for all and they learned more as they went on.

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