With competition season just around the corner for Indianapolis show choirs, many groups are making final preparations before the first public performances of their 2024 competition shows. With many groups having their first performances over the next two weeks, HRSC asked how those performers were feeling ahead of their debut performance.
Franklin Central High School
Franklin Central (FC) opens up its season with a preview show on Thursday, January 25th. Following winter break, with just a few weeks to go before their preview show, FC went overtime on rehearsals. Senior Branden Evans, a member of FC’s varsity mixed group F.C. Singers, discussed just how extensive their rehearsal schedule has been to be ready for preview night.
“Rehearsals post-winter break are a whole new beast for Singers,” Evans said. “We continue our normal twice a week after school rehearsals but now with several added rehearsals, either through the week or on the weekend to prepare.”
Those rehearsals have also been far longer than in the past. “We had an eight-hour clinic with three amazing clinicians that started to bring our show to life. Then, we had a full week of rehearsals with our choreographer to make changes and clean up our show.”
In December, Franklin Central hosted six performances of their holiday show, “Sounds of the Season,” attracting over six thousand people. With such a huge production, FC has only begun to fully focus on their competition show in January, which Evans admits has been a challenge.
“One of the biggest challenges that we've faced is having such a big holiday show that needs to be just as good as any competition set,” Evans said. “To make a holiday show top tier, you almost have to set our competition on the back burner and let it sit while we work on ‘Sounds of the Season.’ This can be a slight hindrance since it takes away time that could be spent working more on our competition set.”
Evans declined to comment on where this year’s F.C. Singers show compares to past seasons. Instead, he emphasized that this year’s production will be completely different from anything we’ve seen from F.C. Singers in the past.
“Our show this year is very unique and a fun twist on a classic F.C. Singers show,” Evans said. “Based on the fact that the show is so different, there is no way to compare it to previous years of Singers.”
Carmel High School
Carmel has a few weeks before their first public performance of their competition show at Pike MusicFest on February 10. With these last few weeks, they hope to refine parts of their show that they have learned earlier this school year.
Accents, Carmel’s varsity womens' group, have been dominant in the past two years, winning seven of their past ten competitions. This year’s edition of Accents is younger than years past, which will be a slight hurdle if they wish to remain on top of Indy’s very competitive single-gender scene.
“Our group this year is much more on the younger side with a lot of first-year members, but they are all just as talented and hard-working as years past,” senior Zoey Hornback said. “It does take more time, however, for them to understand the expectations of competition season and how much work they need to put in outside of rehearsal.”
Despite that hindrance, junior Ava Markland is optimistic that the Accents may do better than last year’s group, especially since they have had their entire show blocked and choreographed since winter break.
“I feel pretty confident about our ability compared with last year,” Markland said. “It feels nerve-racking that we are three weeks away because that doesn’t feel like enough time. However, we’ve had all of our songs, blocking, and choreo since before winter break, so I think we are going to be ready to perform.”
Even though a show may appear complete on the surface, there are bound to be many changes, such as blocking, throughout the competition season that complicate a group’s ability to polish their show. Sophomore Hailey Switzer admits that implementing these changes has been challenging, but having an extra after-school rehearsal each week during January has helped the group to retain these adjustments.
“We have struggled with retaining a lot of the changes and blocking but have overcome those struggles by practicing a ton in the last few weeks,” Switzer said.
Center Grove High School
Center Grove (CG) will be the first school to preview their competition show before competing with it. This week, CG will hold preview shows on Tuesday and Thursday, featuring all four of their competitive show choirs. Last year, every group won in their respective divisions at least once, the first time every Center Grove group has won in the same year.
Surround Sound, CG’s junior varsity mixed group, is coming off its first grand championship in six years. Despite that historic achievement last season, senior member Vanlal Chhalthleng admitted that it will be challenging to replicate that same success due to a less-intensive practice schedule than their large mixed counterparts, Sound System.
“Because we are a small mixed division, we don't have rehearsals outside of school like the varsities,” Chhalthleng said. “We do, however, have one rehearsal for our pre-comp show. We haven’t had as much time to practice as we had wanted to because of a snow day, various 2-hour-delay schedules, and an e-learning day, which have all interrupted our class. We are about ready vocal-wise, but we need revision and cleans on visuals.”
In the last two seasons, Sound System has won at the national level; however, they have also struggled to outplace their local rivals, Carmel Ambassadors and FC Singers. This year, the group has been determined to learn their show as early as possible to ensure they can master it in time for the local Indy circuit beginning in February.
As a part of that effort, they had their first run in costume on January 12, much earlier than prior seasons. With less time dedicated to learning new choreography, the group has been able to focus on nailing specific high points in the show.
“We've worked non-stop on many different sections of different songs throughout our performance, cleaning and really learning how to nail specific vocal moments and dancing styles in the last few weeks,” junior member Vincent Howe said.
Plainfield High School
Instead of holding a preview show, Plainfield will open its competition season this weekend at the Ball State Mid-America Show Choir Championship, which is returning after a twenty-year hiatus.
Plainfield’s large mixed group, Belles et Beaux, who has taken back-to-back third places at state, looks to improve on those performances. While other groups had most of their show complete before winter break, Belles et Beaux had to learn half of their show this month, which has meant that the group has hit rehearsals incredibly hard, something senior Adam Bedel emphasized.
“We’ve hit rehearsals hard,” Bedel said. “We compete in late January and learn about half of our show during the month, so there’s no time to take a breath until we have a product up on that stage that is excellent.”
One of Plainfield’s struggles has been striking a balance between the vocal and visual elements of their show, which they hope to improve over the course of the season.
“Our group definitely struggles to stay balanced, and spends most of its time polishing visual technique & artistry, rather than approaching the vocal side of that same coin,” Bedel said. However, we are aware of this, and hope to tackle it head-on this season.”
This year’s show will feature a variety of musical styles as well as the addition of a fifth riser to accommodate Belles et Beaux’s massive 72-member group.
“This year, our show explores a variety of musical styles and textures, and is super festive and fun,” Adam Bedel said. “I think the goal is to always be a little better than the year prior, and I’d say that we’re on track to that goal as well as a performance that will be very entertaining. We’re excited - and a little nervous - to see it hit the stage and look forward to how it will be received.”
This week, the following groups will hold public preview shows in their home venues. All shows start at 7 p.m. local time:
Avon: 1/26
Center Grove: 1/23 & 1/25
Decatur Central: 1/26
Franklin Central: 1/25
Noblesville: 1/25
North Central: 1/26
After months of concealing show themes, songs, and costumes, all will be revealed in the next several weeks. Which groups’ hard work and preparations will prevail in this very competitive and talented circuit? I’m not sure, but I can’t wait to find out!
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