Mrs. Leslie Walker and one of the SJHS choirs.

Jose Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

Every year at Springville Junior High there is always a very special concert, The Winter Choir Concert.  This year the Winter Choir Concert will be held on January 14th.  It is a prestigious honor for the choir students to be in. They have been practicing since the beginning of the year to bring students and staff members a rich and life filled-concert with a variety of musical styles and well known songs.

“The Winter Concert has a lot of variety in the types of songs we sing. I think people coming to see it will enjoy the different styles of music that we sing,” said Mrs. Leslie Walker, choir teacher at Springville Junior High.

“Next semester, we have the Journey Men. They are a group of eighth and ninth grade boys. I’m excited to work with them. I will also have a new group of Apprentice Singers, which I’m excited about. It’s always fun to get to know the new 7th graders. We will continue working in Master Singers, and we will have another concert in May,” said Mrs. Walker. The choir isn’t just stopping at this concert they are also going to continue throughout the year and beyond.

“The first semester students have been fantastic! I have really enjoyed working with them,” said Mrs. Walker. Springville Junior High is excited for the concert and for choir. The concert is scheduled to be on January 14th.

Spencer Duncan
SJHS Staff Writer

Mrs. Leslie Walker teaches choir part-time at Springville Junior High.  She teaches for the seventh-grade Apprentice Singers, eighth and ninth-grade Knightingales and Journeymen, and last, but not least, the ninth-grade Master Singers.

Mrs. Walker has worked at Springville Junior for seven years. Besides teaching choir at Springville Junior High, Mrs. Walker sings in the LDS Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  She also leads a local children’s choir called the Hobble Creek Singers.

According to Brooke Lange, a ninth-grade Master Singer in Mrs. Walker’s class, Mrs. Walker teaches well and is funny.  Brooke also said she is very nice.  Max Williams, a seventh-grade Apprentice Singer at SJHS, said, “We have a lot of good songs.”  Michelle Herrera, another Apprentice Singer said, “I enjoy having Mrs. Walker as a teacher because she is fun; she lets us sing a lot of fun songs and you can bet it is never boring in that class!”  Mrs. Walker’s class is enjoyed by so many of her students.

When you walk by the SJHS Choir room during sixth to eighth period, you will hear melodies and harmonies. On December 11th, elementary school students will be able to hear these harmonies and melodies without leaving their schools. “All of the elementary schools in Springville will be visited (by the Master Singers and Knightingales),” said Mrs. Leslie Walker, the SJHS choir director. The Master Singers is the ninth grade audition choir; the Knightingales are a mixed chorus of eighth and ninth grade girls.

The Master Singers will be presenting four pieces one with “Choralography—movement on the risers” and another one with a full dance; while the Knightingales will perform three, one with “choralography.” The choralography for the Knightingales was taught by Mrs. Courtney Johnson, an SJHS Vice Principal, who once performed with the BYU International Folkdancers.

For the eighth grade Knightingales, this will be a new experience. According to Krystena Robbins, an eighth grader, she is excited because little kids love songs. Her favorite song they’re performing in “Santa Claus is coming to Town.” She has a younger sister who attends Sage Creek Elementary, whom Krystena will get to see in the afternoon.

On Thursday December 2, 2009, the choir preformed their Christmas concert at Springville Junior High. This included the Apprentice Singers, Knightingales, and Master Singers. Some of the songs that the master singers sang were songs from all over the world. Both the Knightingales and Master Singers danced during some of their songs.

Cami Sumsion, a Master Singer at Springville Junior High, said, “I chose to take choir and tryout for Master Singers because it was fun and challenging at the same time.” The choir students practiced singing their songs during class. “We practice our songs by singing them, and Mrs. Walker will stop and fix what needs to be fixed in that song,” said Braden DeFreese, another Master Singer.

The choir will be performing some of these Christmas songs for the school right before the Christmas break.

The choir students at SJHS are exited for this year’s first choir concert. The choir concert will be December 2nd. The Apprentice Singers (seventh graders) will be performing at 6:45, and the Knightengales and Master Singers (eighth and ninth graders) will be performing at 7:30.

Mrs. Leslie Walker, the choir teacher, said that they have been rehearsing since the start of the year. Most of the songs will tell stories. The choir will even do some dancing in their performances. According to Andrea Dockstader, an eighth grade choir student, the songs are spiritual and Christmas songs.  The entire choir will sing, as well as students in groups, but some will get the spotlight to themselves for a moment.

No one in the choir seems to be the least bit nervous. Krystena Robins and Andrea Dockstader both said that they have been in plenty of concerts so no that it’s nothing to get worked up about. The students have good faith in their teacher.  Krystena said, “It is so fun.  Mrs. Walker is a great teacher.”

The concert will be at Springville Junior High. “Don’t be late,” Mrs. Walker reminded the choir students. That goes for the audience too, you don’t want to miss any of this fun concert.

Here at Spingville Junior High we have students with many different talents. And the school’s curriculum offers a couple of classes for those wishing to learn more and practice those talents.

The school offers a class called Creative Writing for those who love to write. It’s a class where students can practice not only short stories, but poetry and song lyrics as well. Halley Rencher is a ninth-grade student at SJHS who has started too many stories to count, but said she’s only finished a few. She said she started liking to write at the beginning of seventh grade. “I mostly write short stories and novels, but I’m starting to like poetry,” Halley explained. She enjoys writing fiction, horror, realistic fiction and fantasy.

“I’m working on a realistic fiction about a group of teenagers who live a secret life and what happens to them because of their secret life.” She’s also currently working on a poem about a hunting creature who likes to terrorize his victims. Lately, Halley has been writing more fiction stories because “it sounds like it actually could happen.”  Halley finds inspiration in her friends, other books and dreams she’s had. She said that there was a time when she was having a particularly hard time finding inspiration, but she’s starting to get past that.  She also often finds inspiration in an unfinished novel by her friend.

SJHS also offers a choir class for those who enjoy singing and want to practice and extend their skills. Holly Whearley is a ninth-grade student of Mrs. Leslie Walker, the choir teacher. Holly has been singing for six years. She sings slow songs, and she sings in soprano which is high-pitched. Her hero is Celene Dion. “She started out as nothing and became something,’’ Holly said, “No matter who you are, you can become something.”

Holly thinks she can improve on having more power in her singing style; she wants to sing like Dion. Her favorite things to sing are classic, old songs like Ave Maria.  She advises anyone who has a passion for something, even if they’re not very good, to keep striving for success. “You should follow your dreams.” Holly said.

Every kid likes to draw. Students doodle on the margins of their homework or on their notes in class. SJHS also offers a class for students to let out their creativity and get a grade for it. Jackson Averett is an eighth-grade student in Mr. Mitch Cudney’s art course. Mr. Cudney describes Jackson as an imaginative boy with advanced technical skills, good concentration and who is serious about art. He also said that he studies outside school in private art lessons. Jackson has been drawing since he was a little kid, but he says that he doesn’t really want to make drawing a career; he used to, but not very much anymore. He said it’s just a hobby now. Jackson’s favorite thing to draw with is a pencil, and he mostly does pencil sketches. “I like it because just because it’s fun.”

Steven Nunn, ninth-grade student in Mr. David Booth’s band class, plays the guitar, saxophone and clarinet. His favorite is the guitar because he said it is much more challenging than his other instruments. Steven said he would like to make a career out of music. “Only if the opportunity presents itself. There are many other careers I would enjoy doing.”

Steven’s number one inspiration is Eddie Van Halen. “He is the best guitarist ever… enough said,” Steven explained.

Steven started the clarinet in the 6th grade with Mr. Booth. “He is my hero,” he said. Steven has recently started to play with his father’s saxophone, and he has been playing guitar for almost a year now. The instrument that Steven wishes he could play is the drums and other percussion instruments.

Though there is not a class offered for every talent or passion a student may posses, there are still a lot of interesting, fun, and exciting classes to choose from.

The upcoming concert for this semester’s choir classes is just round the corner. Each of the choir classes has been practicing their songs, and they will have the opportunity to show off the songs they have learned.  All the SJHS choirs will sing on the same night, May 13th, at 7:00 p.m. The Apprentice Singers (seventh grade choir) will be singing before the other choirs at 6:15 p.m.

Mrs. Leslie Walker, the SJHS choir teacher, commented when asked how the choirs will do in the concerts. “They are going to be wonderful! We have been practicing since January on all of the songs, so they should be in excellent shape by May 13th!”

Dallin Droubay, a choir student in the 8th and 9th grade Journeymen also commented on how he thinks the choirs will do. “I think that the choirs will do very well; they are well prepared and they will do great.”   Good luck to all the choirs on May 13th!

On April 3rd SJHS choir students got to go to Springville High School to perform for schools from all over Nebo School District. Some songs they sang were” Rhythm of Life,” “In Thee Is Gladness,” and “Come Rain Come Down.” Other schols performed at the high school as well.  Some schools that went were Mapleton Junior High, Payson Junior High, Diamond Fork Junior High, and Mount Nebo Junior High. The choirs went to be judged, have fun, and listen to other schools sing.

Scott Wallentine, an eighth grader at SJHS, said, “My favorite part of the festival was singing for everyone else.”

The choir festival went from 8:50 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. There wasn’t any shortage of people at the concert–about two hundred thirty people showed up.

“My favorite part of the festival was when we got to listen to the other schools sing their songs,” Mike Creviston, a ninth grader at SJHS, said.

The kids at SJHS were exited to be doing the choir festival and can’t wait until next year to do it again.

The Knightingales, a Springville Junior High School choir, finished doing their classes during school, but they aren’t finished singing. Thirty three eighth-grade girls and Mrs. Leslie Walker, the choir director, take their own time to get up early in the morning to go to choir. Clearly these girls and Mrs. Walker love this class.

It takes a lot of work and dedication for these girls to do this, not to mention all the work that Mrs. Walker does to come up with the songs, teach them to the girls, and set up performances.

The Knightingales sing all sorts of songs. Cami Sumsion, an eighth grader in the choir, said, “I like this class. I enjoy the songs we sing because they are a little bit harder than the other ones we used to sing.” Cami also said, “If you like to sing, then join this class. It is fun and exciting.”

The early morning choir starts at 7:00 A.M and ends when school starts. When asked about future concerts, Mrs. Walker said, “We will be singing for the school at our end of the year choir assembly and for our parents on May 13. We will also be singing at the district festival on April 5.”

Maddi Dayton, also an eighth grade girl in the choir said, “I really like going to choir, it helps me a lot. And it’s only one day a week, so it’s not too time consuming. We also have a wide variety of songs so everyone gets to do what they want. My favorite songs are the hard ones.”

Andrew Farr
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High has a class for those men that have changed and unchanged voices and an interest in singing: Men’s Choir. Men’s choir consists of eighth and ninth graders. Eighth graders sign up for the class because they think it’s just like seventh grade choir; and they’re right. It is just as easy, fun and relaxing. “The songs aren’t hard to learn,” Jantzen Dalley, an eighth grade student in men’s choir, said. “The class is and an easy A, all you have to do participate.”

The men in this class have learned seven songs. Barbra Ann, Sweet Betsy from Pike, Aura Lee, and In the Jungle are four songs the choir can name off of their heads.

Mrs. Leslie Walker, the choir teacher, said, “Eighth grade is a great time to work with all men because many of them are dealing with voice change. It’s easier to fix problems without girls there! Plus, it’s just plain macho when the boys sing together.”