About the Program

Over the last fifteen years at Palisade High School, the choral music program has grown from under 30 participants to around 80.  The choral music program started with two choirs and grew to five.  The program offers three levels of treble choir, a tenor/bass choir, and a mixed choir that performs chamber, show and jazz music. 

Choirs at Palisade High School have received superior ratings at the Colorado West Invitational Music Festival and named Outstanding 4A Choir in the following categories:  Men’s (Treble/Bass) Choir, Women’s (Treble) Choir, Women’s (Treble) Show Choir, Show Choir, and Jazz Choir.  For the 2024-2025 school year, all five of PHS choral entries received superior ratings and three of those five received Outstanding 4A Choir Awards.  Our Advanced Treble Choir, Advanced Mixed Choir, and Tenor/Bass Choir earned Superior and Excellent ratings in performance and sight-reading at the regional Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) Large Group Choral Festival.  Our show/jazz choir travels on occasion to the CHSAA Show and Jazz Choir Festival in Colorado Springs.  In 2019, Popular Acclaim! received Superior ratings in both Show Choir and Jazz Choir performance.  

Chamber Singers (Advanced Mixed Choir) performed at the Colorado Music Educators Clinic/Conference at the Broadmoor Hotel and Resort in January 2023.  The Palisade High School Tenor/Bass Choir performed at this clinic/conference in 2022.  Aria (Advanced Treble Choir) last performed at CMEA in 2020 and made their debut performance in 2014.  Popular Acclaim (Show/Jazz Choir) performed at CMEA in 2017.  Aria will make their third appearance at CMEA in January 2026.

Students have the opportunity to participate in the Colorado Choral Directors' Select Honor Choir held in Grand Junction in November.  Palisade choir students regularly audition to be a part of the Colorado All-State Choirs held in Denver in February.  Since 2011, we have had 60 Colorado All-State Choir participants. We also have students audition for the Colorado All-State Jazz Choirs.  Over the years, we have had several students make it to callback auditions.  In 2025, we had one participant in the tenor/bazz jazz choir; in 2024 we had two jazz choir participants, one in the Mixed Jazz Choir and one in the Treble Jazz Choir.  In 2019 we had one jazz choir participant in the Treble Jazz Choir and another student in 2017 that sang with the Treble Jazz Choir.     

Over the last thirteen years, students involved with choral music at Palisade High School have been auditioning for national high school honor choirs sponsored by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and regional high school honor choirs sponsored by the Southwest American Choral Directors Association (SWACDA).  Students have traveled to Dallas, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Kansas City, Missouri, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Cincinnati, Ohio.  In February 2024, five of our students traveled to Denver, Colorado to participate in the Southwest ACDA regional honor choirs.  Choir students will have the opportunity this fall to audition for the high school honor choirs at the Southwest ACDA Regional Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico March 2026.

Palisade High School is about strengthening connections.  Our student body is made up of students that come from all over the Grand Valley (International Baccalaureate Program, School of Choice, school to be attended within living area).  With this diversity, our students create an atmosphere of community, comradery, and acceptance.  We believe you will find our choral ensembles at Palisade High School to follow those same parameters. 

Mr. Doty, now in his thirtieth year as a Colorado music educator, is currently the Director of Choral Music Activities at Palisade High School in Palisade, Colorado, and has built its choral music program over the last fifteen years.  Prior to this, he was the Director of Choral Music Activities at Bookcliff Middle School (Grand Junction), Highlands Ranch High School (Highlands Ranch), and Grand Junction High School, and served on the vocal music faculty at Colorado Mesa University. Mr. Doty served twice as the Chair of the Vocal Music Council for the Colorado Music Educators Association. During his fifteen year tenure, he served as the Chair, Chair-Elect, Secretary, and the District #7 Representative.  Several of his choirs have either performed or received an invitation to perform at the annual CMEA Conference/Clinic at the Broadmoor Hotel and Resort in Colorado Springs.  He has represented the Western Slope as one of the Western Governors for the Colorado All-State Choir Governing Board for many years, and now continues his service to this organization as the Chair-Elect.  Mr. Doty is a vocal judge for the Colorado High School Activities Association Large Group Choral Festivals, and has also had the pleasure of traveling to Utah and New Mexico to judge state choral festivals/competitions. An advocate for music literacy within the choral classroom, Mr. Doty has presented sessions on methods and processes of rhythmic and melodic sight-reading for CMEA and the Colorado American Choral Directors Association.   

Mr. Doty earned his Master of Arts Degree in Music Education with a Choral Concentration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music - Vocal Performance and Music Theatre from Mesa State College (Colorado Mesa University – Grand Junction, Colorado). He  completed graduate studies in music education from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and theatre from Western Illinois University (Macomb, Illinois). 

When his schedule permits, Mr. Doty enjoys performing in or directing and choreographing musicals for various theatrical venues in Grand Junction.