On October 28th, the CAM high school music department began their night practices to prepare for this year’s musical on November 15th & 16th. The night practices will continue almost every day up until the night before the first show. Ms. Jody Ruldolph, one of the directors, told the vocal students they needed to push and advertise the musical because four hundred cheesecakes are being made to accommodate the expected crowd. The experienced upperclassmen are showing leadership by working with the underclassmen to help calm their nerves before opening night. The music department looks forward to performing for everyone!

On Thursday, September 19th, the vocal and band students will be performing at the Homecoming Soup Supper which will begin at 5:00 pm! The coronation of our homecoming king and queen will begin at 7:00 pm. The band will start with two jazzy pieces, and the choir will give everyone a sneak peak of what’s to come in this year’s musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie!” Come by the CAM High School and celebrate homecoming with us!

Tuesday, September 3rd, the musical’s main cast was chosen by Jacob Farrell and Jody Rudolph. A total of seven main parts were given out to our students! To start off, the role of Millie was given to junior; Natalie Blaine, Jimmy was given to sophomore; Mason Stevens, Dorothy was given to Freshman; Essie Riker, Trevor was given to senior; Hunter Frost, Mrs. Flannery was given to senior; Charlotte Williamson, and finally, Mrs. Meers was given to senior; Lexie Ehrman. Mr. Farrell and Ms. Rudolph explained how they picked the cast. Students were chosen based on their singing accuracy, tone, and how well they can characterize their part. It was also said that this year there is an incredibly strong singing crew and two of the main female roles are strong dancers! In the upcoming months, the CAM musical crew will have to pace themselves and learn something every day, whether it be their lines, their singing scenes, choreography, or just being where they need to be! In the upcoming practices, there will be many stage building days so the musical will be ready for the public!

CAM’’s homecoming soup-supper will feature one of the songs in this year’s musical, Thoroughly Miss Modern Millie, performed by the CAM music students. Our CAM vocal director, Mr. Jacob Farrell, commented, “Thoroughly Miss Modern Millie is a fun and exciting 1920’s musical. The songs and large group dance numbers make it fun for the whole family”. The main roles students will audition for are Millie, Jimmy, Dorothy, and three others. The Musical is set to perform on November 15th and 16th. Currently, the vocal students are beginning to work on choreography. Mr. Farrell has planned for many entertaining dancing scenes. He hopes for a crisp ending and to give people a sneak peak of what to expect from this musical! We can’t wait to see this great performance by our CAM music students!

On Friday May 3rd, CAM Music went over to Audubon for the Large Group competition that was held there. Schools all around our conference were there to participate. Our band played two songs named, “March” and “In The Forest of the King”, which had three movements. The band received a III rating, which is pretty good considering this is the first time in a long time that they have gone to large group contest. The vocal sang two songs called, “For the Beauty of the Earth” and “Exultate Justi In Domino”, where they received a II rating.

On April 6th, the CAM Music program bussed over to Audubon for Solo/Ensemble contest. The outcome of the contest was outstanding. The ratings are 5 through 1, with five being the lowest score and 1 being the best. The vocal soloists and their ratings include: Lexie Ehrman-I Rating, Cryssi Scybert- I Rating, Ally Lung- II Rating, Carli Schuler- II Rating, Faith Nath- II Rating, Helen Riker- II Rating, Halie Giegerich- II Rating, Josie Williamson- II Rating, and Sam Martin- II Rating. The ensembles for vocal include: Mixed Duet (Sam Martin and Lexie Ehrman)- I Rating, Men's Quartet (Deshawn Carr, Andrew Holste, Eric Vogl, and Hunter Frost)- I Rating, Duly Noted- I Rating, Ladies Duet (Faith Nath and Helen Riker)- II Rating, Mixed Trio- (Lexie Ehrman, Lane Thomsen, and Ally Lung)- II Rating, Freshman Mixed Choir- II Rating, Sophomore SSA Choir- II Rating, Chamber Choir- II Rating, Senior Mixed Choir- II Rating, Freshman Quartet (Faith Nath, Helen Riker, Eric Pruett, and Mason Stevens)- III Rating.

On March 7, 2019, at 7:00 p.m., CAM High School will be performing our annual Pops Concert. The CAM Band, CAM Vocal, and the group formerly known as Mixed Ensemble, now called “Duly Noted,” will be performing. This year’s theme will be “A Night at the Movies”. We have been asked to keep all of the song names private, so you’ll just have to come and listen!

Mixed ensemble is an extracurricular group containing 16 vocal students that choose and perform songs during concerts. They go caroling around Anita during the town’s Christmas Celebration, and travel to the CAM elementaries and the middle school to perform and to explain what mixed ensemble is. They also visit Caring Acres to sing to the residents as well. The students chosen for the 2018-19 school year are Lexie Ehrman, Halie Giegerich, Josie Williamson and Natalie Blaine as the Sopranos with Kristin Templeman as the alternate. Faith Nath, Isabel Kinzie and Charlotte Williamson are Altos with Whitney Holiday as the alternate. Tenors are Andrew Holste, Deshawn Carr and Hunter Frost with Mason Stevens as the alternate. Eric Vogl and Sam Martin are the Basses with Lane Thomsen as the alternate. Eric Vogl is also performing as a percussionist for the group.

The CAM music students performed their Christmas concert on Thursday, December 13th. The choir sang three songs, “African Angel Carol”, “Fum Fum Fantasia”, and “Silent Night for all the World”, where DeShawn Carr and Andrew Holste were featured in a duet. Next up, the band played three songs of their own, “Celtic Bell Carol”, “Fanfare for the Common Man”, “In the Bleak Midwinter”. To wrap up the night, the mixed ensemble harmonized three songs as well, “See that Baby”, “Jingle Bells”, and “Little Drummer Boy”. Mr. West, the band instructor commented, “I feel that last night was a very successful night, and the band played very well. I am super proud of the band.“