COMMODORE MEDIA GROUP

Hannah Gadd-Ardrey, the LMS and LHS choir director, has been taking her choirs to the MHSAA state choral contest for seven years, this being her eighth. However, this year’s contest looks a little different for not only Ardrey, but also her students. Because she is having a baby in November, Ardrey decided to only take a womens’ and a mixed choir to contest this year. 

“I didn’t want to overwhelm my students with learning too much music on their own.” noted Ardrey.

Despite such a big change in Ardrey’s life, she will continue to make sure her choirs can be at their best even if she is not there. By preparing her choirs much earlier this year, Ardrey depends on her students to take the initiative. 

“I like to think that it’s up to my students to decide if they are going to be their best. I am a guide that can give them the tools to succeed. As long as students show up with a great attitude, a positive outlook, and a goal in mind to achieve all-superiors, then that makes my job a little easier. If they motivate themselves to do well, then I can also push them to earn all-superior ratings because I know they can,” she explained.

Ardrey elaborated on the contest, saying, “Contest is an evaluation where I prepare my students to sing two contrasting pieces of music. We take this music that we have learned and memorized and we present it for judges. They give us ratings and comments based on our performance. High School and Middle School are both under the umbrella of MHSAA. So, we are required to compete in the state performance assessment each year.” 

While the contest takes a lot of time and preparation, Ardrey has proved her excellence by taking home all-superior ratings six out of the seven years she has been teaching.  

According to Ardery, the contest does not have a set and stone location. “Contest changes each year depending on the availability of the performance venue. Last year it was held at Oxford High School. However, this year it takes place at North West Mississippi Community College for my highschool choirs.”  

Having both a high school and middle school choir, Ardrey usually takes a wide variety of groups to compete in order to maximize her students abilities. 

“Normally we take choirs and ensembles. Ensembles are just smaller groups of musicians that sing a little bit more advanced music.” said Ardrey. 

Even through her absence, Ardrey is making sure her choirs will be well represented at this year’s choir contest.