Choir ISSMA 2020

On Saturday, February 8, Penn High School hosted the ISSMA choir competition. Schools from all over the area competed as groups and as soloists to try and receive a reward of either gold, silver, or bronze. Students who didn’t make any of these awards were given participation. Some of the Penn choirs, including Bella Voce, Cantabile, and Singing Kingsmen, performed at the event.

Preparing for the competition, the Penn choirs were broken into smaller groups to help prepare themselves. Chloe Baxter, a sophomore, said, “When we would get together in our small groups, and get in circles, and work together, that really helped me.” Avril Do, a junior, said, “When we ended up splitting into parts, and listening to Mrs. Secaur’s recordings, that really helped us.”

The friends and families of the performers were able to watch them at the event. Performances took place in the CPA and classrooms around the school. Following their performances, students were given their awards and critiques from the judges.

Many students had positive feelings about how ISSMA went. Sam Palmer, a freshman, talking about his group’s ISSMA performance, said, “It went pretty well. We didn’t miss any entrances, so that was good. We ended up getting gold, so it definitely went better than expected.” Maddie Girton, a sophomore, said, “It went really well. I was really happy with the score I got, and I feel like every year I do ISSMA, I do improve and grow as a musician.

During ISSMA, students were able to change what group they were in, changing the difficulty of the judging. Any students who received a gold at ISSMA while performing in group one, received the opportunity to go to state on February 22, and perform there.