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 This year's event,
presented in the Hartsburg-Emden
High School gym, was
called "An Adventure in Music." Seventy-five chorus students
represented Chester-East Lincoln, Hartsburg-Emden, Mount Pulaski, New
Holland-Middletown, West Lincoln-Broadwell and Zion
Lutheran of Lincoln. One hundred band students hailed from those same
schools and Lincoln Junior High.
Hartsburg-Emden's elementary music and chorus teacher, Rachel Hall,
conceived the idea for the festival during her first year at the
school, and with cooperation and assistance from music teachers
across the county, the annual festival has become a mainstay on the
activity schedule.
"We take turns with Lincoln Junior High to host, but we use our high
school gym over here, because of the space needed to accommodate the
number of participants and the audience," Hall said.
This year's
festival attracted over 300 parents, grandparents and other
community members who were entertained by the talented young singers
and musicians.
According to Hall, there are always two guest conductors who
bring their own manner of teaching to the afternoon practice
sessions and heighten expectations for the evening performance.
This year's guest chorus conductor was Mrs. Aurelius-Muir, from
Bloomington. She holds degrees from the University of Illinois in
piano performance, voice and music education.
Prior to becoming a music educator, she owned a piano and voice
studio, and she has served as a choir director or service accompanist at
several churches. She currently teaches chorus for grades seven to 12 at
Olympia Middle School and Olympia High School in Stanford.
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The guest band conductor was Rex E. Benson of Normal. A retired
music teacher, he has been a festival conductor, given clinics at
ISU and Illinois Wesleyan University, and performed with several
wind and brass ensembles and the King Bros. Circus Band. He has been a member of several education and music
education organizations, including the Illinois High School
Association, where he served as a member of the music advisory board.
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from Illinois State
University and continued his education at Aurora College and VanderCook College of Music.
He taught music for 34
years, the final 25 years at Mendota High School, where he was the fine
arts chair, director of bands and taught music theory and
history. He currently assists in the supervision of student teachers
for ISU and works part time at The Music Shoppe in Normal.
[By MARLA BLAIR]
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