Expansion Leads to Better Music

Show+Choir+or+Chorale++practicing+sight+reading+for+State+Qualifiers.+

Grace Beach

Show Choir or Chorale practicing sight reading for State Qualifiers.

Grace Beach, Staff Writer

On Wednesday August 9, 2017, Seymour High School expanded to some of the largest numbers it has ever seen; Perhaps most affected were the arts programs, who seem to have outgrown their current housing. In one interview, choir director Kyle Karum stated that there are “over 500 students in the music department at SHS.” In the past two years, the choirs have surpassed the band in numbers. The band currently sits at 230 people in the Marching Owls and Color Guard, while the choir program rests at 270

The increase in the choir programs is great! We even had to add a class last year because of increasing enrollment.

— Kyle Karum

people.

“The increase in the choir programs is great! We even had to add a class last year because of increasing enrollment.” Karum is excited about the ever-climbing numbers saying “This allows for better music-making than previous years.”

Sophomore and Marching Owl Anna Massengale also commented on the expansion, “It sounds and looks better with a lot of people. It’s hard to pay attention or hear when people are talking and some people hear it, some people don’t. So, at times it makes it hard for everyone else to know what’s going on.”

Unfortunately, with expansion also comes some negative aspects. “I have less one on one time with my students. With over 270, it’s hard to get to everyone although I try my best to.” The choir director also says running a music program is “highly administrative” and he’s constantly organizing events (i.e. “field trips, fundraisers, writing concert programs, putting together community presentations, ordering and studying new music, or producing the spring musical.”) Massengale commented on the issue of space, saying “There’s barely enough space, sometimes it’s enough, sometimes it’s not.”