By Samantha Kupiainen
On March 16, Noblesville High School will host its first-ever choir competition – the Indiana Show Choir Championships.
A total of 21 show choirs from 13 schools across Indiana will compete. Unlike many show choir competitions, this one is exclusively for Indiana high schools. They are Austin, Ben Davis, Bishop Luers, Center Grove, Decatur Central, Franklin Central High, Jay County, Lafayette Jefferson, Lakeland Northridge, Northrop, Warren Central and Noblesville.
“We wanted to have a culminating event for this,” said John Neubauer, NHS’ choral music director. “We wanted to have an event that celebrated Indiana show choirs only, to gather the best Indiana show choirs and just be Indiana for one weekend.”
The Indiana Show Choir Championships will have four divisions — Small Women’s Choir, Large Women’s Choir, Small Mixed Choir and Large Mixed Choir. A champion will be crowned in each division.
NHS is preparing for the competition in several ways. Parents of show choir students are doing a majority of the legwork, including preparing the building so all participants will have space to set up.
“I’ve hired professional sound and lighting to run the auditorium, so it’s like a high-quality venue,” Neubauer said. You’re going to hear and see everything very nicely. And we’re going to have a live stream so that people that are unable to attend for whatever reason can still watch on their computers or television.”
In another departure from most in-state show choir competitions, none of the five judges are from Indiana.
“The judges that we’re having, it’s a little atypical for Indiana,” he said. “Most of the competitions we go to are judged by semi-local people. Sometimes, people will bring in people from out of the area, but we’ve gone a little bit of the extra mile. We’re hoping to create as unbiased of a situation as possible.”
The competition runs from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The first performance is slated for 8:15 a.m., and the final awards are scheduled for 10:40 p.m.
