Honors Program
Be sure to enroll in the Honors Program Google Classroom to stay up to date with announcements! The Google Classroom class code is 25ezhiw.
Program Overview
The NHS Music Honors offers students an opportunity to delve deeper into their musical experience at Natick High School. This year-long program is open to all singers in grades 9-12 (grade 9 students are officially enrolled in semester two).
There are a significant number of requirements to have a successful experience in the Honors program:
Students should take lessons once a week with a private voice teacher, logging 14 lessons each semester. Seniors will log fewer lessons due to their shorter second semester. Lessons should be at least 45 minutes in length. A list of recommended teachers can be found at the bottom of this page.
Honors students will have extra assignments above the requirements of the ensemble in which they are enrolled, including Term 1 goal-setting and a Term 3 research project.
All Honors students must try out for District music festivals. If there are more than 6 students per voice part in the program, a pre-audition will be held to determine who is going.
All Honors students perform at both recital dates (January and June). Each singer is expected to prepare and perform two pieces; one classical and one in a style of their choosing. They must be accompanied. A list of accompanists can be found at the bottom of this page.
Exceptions to recital performances: Any student who receives an all-state recommendation is exempt from the January recital date. Students who already performed at the January recitals can opt out of the June recitals by performing at MICCA solo and ensemble. You may not be exempt from both January and June recitals.
All students in the honors program must turn in the quarterly honors lesson evaluation and lesson log.
Voice Teacher Contacts:
Shooka Afshar (NHS Voice teacher) - shooka@shookaafshar.com
Beth Canterbury - bcvoicestudio@gmail.com
Junko Wantanabe - j.watanabe@rivers.org
Abby Rogers - abbymaerogers@gmail.com
Ron Williams - 774-232-1006 - waldesnacht@gmail.com
Nancy Gerber - 339-234-0774 nhgstudio@gmail.com
Holly Chin - hollychinvocals@gmail.com
Collaborative Pianist Contacts:
Valerie Stark
508-655-9189
Paul Huberdeau
508-345-0545
Jody Pongratz
508-654-4440