Springville Can Sing Again!

The elective Choir is a class that teaches you a different way of using an instrument, your voice. Choir is held in the band room and is taught by Mr. Hornsby. Mrs. Umphrey, a former high school choral director, was interviewed about her thoughts on the matter. Mrs. Umphrey says, “choir is an important component to a public-school education. Many high school students take band and can play an instrument, however, there are tons of students who are musically talented but do not play instruments.

Choir gives these students musical opportunities they would not otherwise have.” SHS Choir president, Ella Mason, said, “Choir is important because not everyone can play an instrument. Singing is a great way to express yourself and your feelings.” Another SHS choir student, Aiden Black, said, “Choir brings people with similar interests together. Some students in school cannot connect with others because they don’t know their interests. Being in choir is like a family.”

When asked about the history of choir at Springville High School, Mrs. Umphrey was able to provide a great overview. She said: for many years, SHS had a great choral program that was started by Mrs. Jackie Garrett, she did an amazing job with the resources and time she had as she was only able to teach 2 periods of choir due to lack of room in the master schedule. Under her direction, the SHS choir performed two concerts per year as well as singing at different civic centers, local nursing homes, and senior centers. When Mrs. Garrett retired in 2015, SHS did not have a traditional choir for seven years. Then Mr. Wallis came as the new guitar teacher, he retired at the end of 2021. Dr. Moore took that opportunity to hire a highly qualified choir teacher. The job Mr. Hornsby had done is nothing short then astounding and getting choir established again at SHS has not been a small feat by any means. Therefor a lot of projects happen in choir like the students learning new sheet music, having to learn it even if it’s in a different language, and Mr. Hornsby teaching them vocal exercises and believing in them so that they can do amazing things. All the choir students love Mr. Hornsby as their teacher and are thankful for the amazing teacher they have.