Kenansville Elementary School participates in UMO Honor Choir Festival
From Duplin County Schools Website
The Kenansville Elementary School Advanced Honor Choir students participated in the University of Mount Olive Honor Choir Festival on March 3rd. The event featured approximately 200 middle school students from 11 schools and 6 counties who had the opportunity to learn from Jonathan Saeger, Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the UMO Concert Choir. Several of the music teachers who attended the festival were UMO music alumni, including Daphne Vann of Kenansville Elementary School.
“This is the third year that the Kenansville Elementary School Advanced Honor Choir students participated in the UMO Honor Choir Festival,” said Ms. Vann.
“As of yet, my students have not stopped talking about how much fun they had during this event. They loved the friendly atmosphere of the college setting, the uniformed UMO t-shirts and gifts, the brain break activities, and how much fun it was to sing with other students from the surrounding counties who love to sing just like they do.
The whole process of auditioning for the KES Advanced Honor Choir, preparing songs for UMO, and participating in the festival has changed the overall idea of learning music at the next level for my students. My students expressed their amazement of the differences in their vocals from the rehearsals to the live performance, all thanks to Mr. Saeger’s training and this wonderful enrichment opportunity.
As a middle school music teacher, I too enjoyed watching, singing, and learning from Mr. Saeger’s vocal techniques and witnessing his patience as he worked with all these talented students. Now, my students understand the true meaning of music appreciation, quality repertoire, and singing from the heart.
From deep within our hearts, we extend our gratitude to Mr. Jonathan Saeger and the University of Mount Olive for this wonderful opportunity to share the love of singing! We can’t wait to do it again, next year.”
A concert was held at the close of the event featuring the participants singing song selections from Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, and France.
The concert can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/c/UniversityofMountOlive
Duplin County Schools Website
