Chorus Trip to St. Louis, Missouri

Over the years the MCHS Choral Department has traveled many places such as Hawaii, Disney World, and Memphis. This year the trip was St Louis, Missouri. Before the trip, the SoundWaves, Madrigals, and the Rolling Tones went on their annual Christmas Tour around Brandenburg. They performed at Flaherty Elementary, David T. Wilson Elementary, Brandenburg Primary, and at Brandenburg United Methodist Church for a luncheon for Stone Law Office. The tour performance started out with everyone performing a medley of ¨Happy Holidays¨, ¨It´s the Holiday Season¨, and ¨Let It Snow¨.

This was followed by performances from the Madrigals. The Madrigals performed ¨Fum Fum Fum¨, ¨Ding Dong (Merrily on High)¨, ¨God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman¨, and ¨Deck the Hall¨. This year's Madrigals are Chesney Benham, Dylan DeBeauchamp, Haley English, Hannah English, Issac Evans, Seth Hughes, Avery Joyner, Ethan McCormick, Isabella Ray, Cierra Redmond, Audrey Richards, Casey Richards, Charlie Saylor, Lily Shelton, Angelina Stinnett, Camden Vessels, Anna Whelan, and Lillian Winchester. The Madrigals are directed by Derek Crafton.

The Madrigals were followed by the Rolling Tones. This is the first time the choir brought the group on the Christmas tour, and they certainly showed why. The Rolling Tones performed ¨Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy¨, which featured the beat-box stylings of Zoe Halstead for the tour. This year's Rolling Tones are Alazia Canfield, Maddie Clinkscales, Jazmine DeBeauchamp, Miani Edwards, Zoe Halstead, Zoey Mullins, Cierra Redmond, and Lily Shelton. The Rolling Tones are directed by Hannah Goldman.

The SoundWaves closed out the tour this year. The SoundWaves performed ¨Up on the Housetop¨, ¨I Want to Stare at My Phone With You¨, ¨Leroy the Redneck Reindeer¨, and ¨Christmas Joy¨. This years SoundWaves are Chesney Benham, Brynna Bennett, Jenna Blakey, Maddie Clinkscales, Dylan DeBeauchamp, Jazmine DeBeauchamp, Jacob Dodson, Carina Druen, Issac Evans, Jayden Fuqua, Caroline Kane, Grace Mattingly, Zoey Mullins, Savannah Perry, Izaiah Pierce, Emily Popham, Allie Reardon, Madalynne Rogers, Charlie Saylor, and Zoe Sondergeld. The SoundWaves are directed by Shaune Rebilas. Featured soloists on the tour included: Brynna Bennett, Maddie Clinkscales, Jacob Dodson, Issac Evans, Jayden Fuqua, Caroline Kane, Grace Mattingly, Zoey Mullins, Emily Popham, Allie Reardon, Cierra Redmond, Casey Richards, Charlie Saylor, and Anna Whelan

After their tour, the groups went on a long bus ride to St. Louis. On the bus rides there, the choir broke out into song several times. "My favorite part is when we all sang on the bus when we were going somewhere," said Sophomore Madalynne Rogers. On the bus ride, Jayden Fuqua learned of his secret talent for conducting our choir--watch out Mr. Crafton! The first night at St. Louis included a trip to go see the Broadway musical Wicked. Wicked has been a successful running show since 2003 and goes on tours performing throughout the country. Wicked is an anthology story told within the story of The Wizard of Oz. Wicked takes the familiar characters of Glinda and Elphaba (The Wicked Witch of the West) and shows you different stories of their lives, both intertwined and separate, from before, during, and after the events of The Wizard of Oz. With showstoppers like ¨Popular¨ and ¨Defying Gravity¨ the musical molded together the amazing music with an incredible story to make an inventive show.

The second day was filled with many different experiences. It started out with the City Museum. For those of you that don't know, the City Museum is essentially a gigantic playground. ¨My favorite memory from the St.Louis trip was going to the City Museum. It was a well-needed visit and break from singing where we could all roam rampant and have fun,¨ said Senior Zoe Halstead. After the city museum, the groups went to perform in a parade in St.Charles, Missouri. The parade was a great opportunity for all the groups to sing together. After the parade, each of the groups performed their tour pieces for people shopping around the town. This performance featured solos from Brynna Bennett, Jacob Dodson, Jayden Fuqua, Caroline Kane, Allie Reardon, Cierra Redmond, and Charlie Saylor. They then went to a Play/Madrigal dinner. The choir was served a barbecue buffet and traditional foods passed around during the performance. Our very own Madrigals were the special guest performance for one night only.

The last day of the trip started with the St. Louis Arch. It was an amazing experience to have fun and learn while in St.Louis. We spent most of our afternoon at the Arch with its museum, cafe, and gift shop. Afterward, the choir traveled to a park outside the Arch which included an ice skating rink, a playground, and appearances from Spider-Man and Princess Tiana (Princess and the Frog). Our students got to interact with and meet the park's Spider-Man and Tiana, and some students even got to perform for them. "We met Spider-Man and Princess Tiana at an ice skating rink! It was very fun to interact with them as they played their roles very well and were very kind. This was a nice treat," said Senior Lillian Winchester. After all this, we headed to a Cathedral for a traditional Christmas concert which included many well-known Christmas songs and lesser-known classical pieces.

"St. Louis was such an amazing trip. On top of seeing Camden Vessels shakily try to ice skate and taking pictures with Spider-Man, it was the first choir trip I got to go on with one of my best friends, Emily Popham. Emily and I have waited years to be able to go on a trip together, and this one didn't disappoint," said Senior Maddie Clinkscales of the trip. The St.Louis trip was an amazing opportunity for the people involved in Madrigals, SoundWaves, and Rolling Tones. We were given many performance opportunities and life experiences to carry with us for years. Whether it's singing for Spider-Man, seeing Elphaba defy gravity, or trying to calm down Savannah Perry on the Arch, the Choir is never boring! We also got lots of pictures you can view in the image carousels at the top of the article. The choir has had many performances this school year, but it all leads up to our Spring Musical Annie which has performances May 7-9!