Choir clinic conducted in Gentry

GENTRY --The music coming from the auditorium at Gentry High School brought back sounds of ancient choirs in huge cathedrals and concert halls, but it was not a professional choir singing in the auditorium. It was a group of high school students from Gentry and other small schools in the area.

Gentry High School choirs hosted the small-school-district all-region choir workshop to help students from smaller schools learn choral pieces for their all-region choir tryouts on Saturday, Oct. 4.

Students came from Elkins, Farmington, Haas Hall, Bergman, Prairie Grove, West Fork, Siloam Springs and Berryville High Schools for the special event.

Rager Moore, choral diector at the University of Arkansas, Ft. Smith, led the clinic and also brought the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Chorale to Gentry to help work with the students in their rehearsals.

The rehearsals with students, combined with the college choir members, really helped the high school choir students get more confident and better prepared to sing for the judges next week, according to Trella Yates, Gentry's choir director.

Students learned "O Magnum Mysterium" by Victoria, "A Choral Fanfare" by Rutter, "Go Lovely Rose" by Stroope, "Nuit D'Etoiles" by Debussy and "Confirma hoc Deus" by Gallus.

One hundrend, ninety-six students took part in the event, Yates said.