By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The New York Mills School choirs made sure to put their best foot forward last week as they hosted a regional choir competition with students from Verndale, Sebeka, Pillager, Wadena-Deer Creek, Bertha-Hewitt, Staples-Motley, and Battle Lake participating in the event.

NY Mills students received two excellent scores and one superior score with their pieces “O Love,” and “What Was I Made For,” a composition made for the movie “Barbie.”

“It was a difficult piece,” said choir instructor Dana Peterson. “They were both challenging pieces, but they loved “What Was I Made For.” For me, I’m trying to spark the students’ interest by picking music that they like.

“I always try to pick music that they will like,” she continued. “It motivates them and it makes them want to sing. We have excellent singers. It’s my first year here and they’ve improved a ton, but it takes time to build it up.”

Peterson taught K-4 prior to being a high school teacher, so she commented that she is often learning right alongside the students. Having adult choir experience, she has enjoyed getting to work with 7-12th grade students this past year in NY Mills, even if it took a bit of work to get the ball rolling.

“At the beginning of the year, my biggest struggle was just getting the girls to sing,” she said. “The boys sang, but I have a lot of young girls this year. A lot of music has to do with trust, you start with that relationship, because when you’re doing things with music, you’re really vulnerable. If you mess up, everybody hears you.”

“We’re really trying to build up the music program here,” she continued. “Both Mr. Armagost and I are super motivational with our students, everything is about relationships. He is amazing with the kids. So I’m trying to recruit as many as I can, I’m hoping next year that we get more kids and just keep growing the program.”

While the NY Mills students are still getting into the groove of a new set of music teachers, the group scored well at the choir competition. Peterson was happy with their progress and said that they will continue to improve and be more confident with their own skills. Many of the other local schools scored well including Verndale, Pillager, Staples-Motley and Battle Lake, who all received three superior ratings.

“They were amazing,” said Peterson. “The groups had to pick one song from a list of songs and there’s a category of either 1-2-3, depending on the complexity of the song and how many voices you’re using. They had to choose one song from a list and then I gave them half an hour, which the judges loved. They were telling me ‘this is great, because we normally don’t get a chance to work with the kids as much as we got to work with them.’

“The groups are allowed to sing as many songs as they want to sing after that in the time allotment that’s there,” she continued. “So a couple of us only did one from the list, because everyone has to do that, and then one other. You can tell just talking to the conductors—one of them has been there eight years—it’s a building opportunity. I only just started working with these kids, I’m learning too.”

Last year, the NY Mills students did not compete in the competition, so this was a fresh start and a new experience for many of the students and also for Peterson.

“This is the first time I’ve ever hosted anything like this,” she said. “It’s hosted here about every three years, so now we have the date for the next one and we’re not going to miss it, I won’t be caught off guard when it happens and I’ll know better what I’m doing too.”

Peterson said between band and choir there are a number of musical competitions available for students to enter in the region including solo/ensemble among others. She was pleased with the competition and how everything turned out.

“Everything went so smooth,” she said. “I’m so thankful. It was a super day and it was so much fun. The kids from the other choirs were interacting with each other and they were playing around in their home space, everybody had a good time.”

With this competition helping hone students’ techniques, a number of concerts are coming up in the music department in NY Mills this spring, something which Peterson said is increasing in participation from community members. 

Upcoming concerts include:

• K-4 Concert: May 1

• 5-6 Concert: May 15

• Band Concert: May 12

• 7-12 Concert: May 19

Community members, parents, families are all invited to attend the upcoming concerts and see how far the students have come in the past year.