BY RILEY WILSON
Eudora senior Shaunna Hoover wants to take the audience on an emotional journey through music when she sings.
After several weeks of preparation, she and her classmates are ready to do just that.
“The end result after all the work and being able to communicate with our audience and being able to, you know, put out that emotion that we really strive to make them feel,” Hoover said is her favorite part of performing.
Hoover is a member of the Eudora High School Cardinal Choirs and will sing in the fall concert tonight (Thursday). She said quite a bit of work goes into preparing for a concert like this one.
First, she said, they start by learning each part of a song. Next, they combine all the parts and bring in dynamics, like the loudness of their voices.
“You kind of have to meld all that together to make something. That’s what we’re working on now,” Hoover said.
The choirs’ hard work doesn’t go unnoticed, Eudora High School Principal Ron Abel said.
He said he enjoys hearing the choirs’ progress throughout his classroom observations. Abel said the choir director, Allison Enneking, does an outstanding job at leading the students.
“It’s just nice to kind of see them grow through their practice opportunities and then go to the concert and see a live performance,” Abel said. “It’s just really neat.”
There are approximately 100 students involved in the Cardinal Choirs who practice every day during a 50-minute class period.
To prepare for this performance, students have been practicing since September, Enneking said.
“It’s definitely a lengthy process,” she said. “We started with this music at the beginning of the year and now they’re ready to perform.”
She said each song the audience will hear was composed or arranged by a woman, making the theme of the concert “Women of Note.” Although the event is free to the public, donations will be accepted to support a local nonprofit, 100 Good Women, that provides aid to those in need.
Enneking said she enjoys seeing students shift their mindset from rehearsal to performance. Students’ demeanor changes, she said, when they step on stage in front of an audience.
“They just kind of have this pride about them for the music that they’re performing and for the work that they’ve put in,” Enneking said. “That’s always a great thing to see.”
The concert is at 6:30 tonight (Thursday) at the Eudora High School Performing Arts Center. For more information visit the Eudora Cardinal Choirs Facebook page.
Reach reporter Riley Wilson at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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