After 19 years the Imbler School District Choir Program is back
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, December 29th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
IMBLER – After a nearly two-decade gap in its musical education offerings, the Imbler School District recently brought back its student choir program at the start of the 2023-24 school year. Alongside the bellowing of brass and the rush of woodwinds, local sporting events and concerts are being graced by the vocal talent of Imbler students once again.
According to Imbler Music Instructor Erin Wunz, the district hasn’t had a choir as part of the music program since the 2004-2005 school year. Partially spurred on by previous music instructor Celene Burke and partially out of wanting to gauge student interest, the district relaunched the program at the beginning of the school year to a humble, but nonetheless resounding, success. The choir is open to all junior high and high school students and currently boasts a roster of 8 students: 6 7th graders, 1 8th grader, and 1 senior.
When asked what they specifically enjoyed about choir, the students gave varied responses but most boiled down to a love of music/singing and enjoying the experience of getting to perform. One student even remarked that the entire experience reminded them of a theater performance. Gracie Howell, the senior student, remarked:
“I think everything about choir has been a good experience. Having all the kids come in and learn about choir and just singing is really good for them and opens up new levels of creativity. It’s nice that we have that back here.”
Seventh grader Cali, who had been part of choir for three years prior to transferring to Imbler, also chimed in, remarking how enjoyable it was that choir didn’t require tryouts like a sports team, stating:
“I like being in choir, it’s nice. I like that everyone gets to be part of it, and you don’t have to try out for it. You have to try out for a team, but you don’t have to try out for choir, and I just really enjoy singing.”
One event that most of the students expressed excitement about was getting to perform the national anthem at basketball games. A trio of three students in particular, though occasionally more, have been performing at most of the recent games, with the hope that these performances will continue into spring athletics.
Beyond the appearances at games, the choir has stayed busy. Students recently performed their own Christmas concert, the program’s first official standalone concert, in addition to the whole choir performing the national anthem together for Imbler’s Veterans Day assembly.
Undoubtedly the largest event the Imbler Choir has been involved in yet was the November 14 EOSSMA Choral Event at EOU. Conducted by EOU Music Professor Peter Wordlemen, nearly 50 local choir students all performed together alongside the EOU Chamber Choir and the EOU 45th Parallel Jazz Ensemble, directed by Greg Johnson. One student from each local choir was also given the opportunity to sing a short solo, with Imbler’s being Gracie Howell. Wunz best summarized the experience:
“All eight of the choir students attended and they all said that they had a good experience and learned a lot. They gleaned a lot from singing with the 40-50 other students from small schools…The teachers from each school also sang with the EOSSMA choir. I enjoyed singing with my students and other students from the small schools. At the end, all of the small schools sang four songs all together with guest pianist Matt Carlson, the music teacher at North Powder.”
The reaction to the choir’s return has overall been positive according to Wunz, who mentioned that former Imbler music teacher Ted Roy McBride even complimented the group following their winter concert. As for what’s next, the choir will first need to confirm its roster going into the spring semester. As choir is an elective, it’s entirely possible that some of the students may leave for different classes, though all of them are more than welcome to choose choir again.
In the longer term, the hope is to generate more interest among the student body, particularly the high school students, and grow the current group. The current choir group sings in three different parts, or harmonized sections, with Wunz hoping to have upwards of six different sections in the future. As she further described:
“I’m not actively recruiting students, but I know that the staff really want it to grow too, so when they hear people singing in the hallway, they might put a bug in their ear like, ‘hey, you know we have a choir program.’ It’s just kind of word of mouth.”
For any Imbler student with an interest in singing or music that may be curious about choir but are unsure about joining, Wunz gave the following bit of motivation:
“I think that choir is such an enriching experience for everybody that’s involved, and it brings out community and friendships. You get to learn about music, how to make music, how to sing, and also a lot about yourself, so it’s enriching for the person and for the people around them.”
