MURRAY – There was no shortage of joyful noise at Murray State University last week, compliments of the Athena & Apollo Choral Festival. This year’s gathering included high school groups from Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Tennessee, a total of 200 teens. The day began with registration at 8:30 a.m., followed by two rehearsals – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – and then problem-solving clinic and coaching sessions. After the exhilarating public concert at 6:30 p.m., the singers boarded their yellow buses for the long ride home.
According to Dr. Brad Almquist, MSU’s Athena & Apollo organizer, there is no fee for groups to participate in this unique blend of learning, rehearsing and specialized feedback from a professional director.
“The festival provides the music,” Almquist said. “The only thing groups must do is to get here.”
Facilitated by guest conductors, afternoon clinics set Athena & Apollo apart from other workshops for high school singers. “No other festival does this,” Almquist declared.
He went on to explain that the one-day experience on campus is also an effective recruiting tool, not necessarily to attract music majors, but to create awareness that campus music activities, including chorus, welcome non-majors’ participation.
Guest conductors Dr. Tucker Biddlecombe, with collaborative piano by Grayson Pate, and Professor Katie Barton, with collaborative piano by Devonda Treece, offered feedback, encouragement, and vocal problem-solving. Their interactions with the choirs were lessons in details that refine vocal performance, including breathing, enunciation and timing.
Biddlecombe’s warm-up with bass and tenor voices featured an increasingly complex exercise that required paying attention, following directions, making mistakes, and then correcting them. As the group improved their skills, the conductor remarked, “You have all these wonderful things, but you’re not so good at being not so good at things.”
With that declaration, singers learned a non-verbal way to signal, “I made a mistake.” The gesture was used all day, not merely as a reminder that everyone is fallible, but also as a means for individuals to recognize their own mistakes. No shame or embarrassment is intended; the goal is to do better.
During the coaching session for sopranos and altos on the song, “Dreamkeeper,” Professor Katie Barton directed the Athena group to hold on to the “m” sound and accent the “k.”
“Sing those words like you want somebody to answer,” Barton advised.
Later on in the Apollo session, the tenors and basses were reminded by Dr. Biddlecombe, “There has to be more than singing the correct notes.”
The enthusiasm and commitment of the students was evident throughout the day and into the evening. Right before the performance, a McCracken County High School student enthusiastically shared his takeaways from the festival.
“Sing to inspire not impress,” was an important insight Aiden N. garnered from the day.
Chelsey C., from Christian County, learned, “Working together is important. Listen to each other,” she said.
From the morning warmups to the public performance in the evening, the groups were transformed. For the concert, Apollo – both high and low voices – sported identical festival tee shirts. Athenas were garbed in black, a change from the morning’s tee shirts and jeans. Besides their professional appearance, both groups demonstrated incredible restraint. The entire day, not one student pulled out a phone. They were totally focused.
An intermittent highlight of the evening concert was Dr. Biddlecombe quizzing the Apollos on specific things they learned from the day’s coaching and rehearsal. “Singing is an athletic event,” was one maxim, and the proof was in the inspired voices of 200 young people.
Founded in 2011, the festival was known as Athena because it was devoted to the work of women composers. Over time, as different advisors took charge, the direction of the festival was adjusted to include more participants, thus the Apollo contingent was added.
Guest Apollo Choirs came from Christian County High School in Hopkinsville; Graves County Schools in Mayfield; McCracken County High School in Paducah; New Madrid County Central High School in Missouri; Paducah Tilghman High School’ Pope County High School in Golconda, Illinois; Princeton Community High School in Indiana; and White House Heritage High School in Tennessee.
Guest Athena groups were Hopkinsville’s County High School Treble Choir; Paducah’s McCracken County Treble Choir; From Illinois, Mt. Vernon Township’s Treble Ensemble; Paducah’s Tilghman High School Treble Choir; and Tennessee’s White House Heritage Treble Choir.
The Athena and Apollo Festival convenes every March. For more information, contact the Department of Music at Murray State University. Dr. Brad Almquist’s email is balmquist@murraystate.edu.
Recipient of a Governor’s Award in the Arts, Constance Alexander has won numerous grants, awards, and residencies for her poetry, plays, prose and civic journalism projects. She is also a founding board member of The Murray Sentinel and currently serves as our board secretary.
Contact her at constancealexander@twc.com.
