'Music In Our Schools' Concert Hosted

A gym full of melodies radiated from Eureka High School Tuesday evening when choirs from Ridge Meadows Elementary, and combined to host a choral concert at Eureka High School.

Directors were:  Dawn Hall for Ridge Meadows, Valerie Waterman for LaSalle Springs and Donna Baker for Eureka High. The accompanist was Mari Lyn Budde.

"It doesn't start here," said Baker, referencing the older high school singers. "[The love of] music truly starts in the younger classes, and we get the fruits of the labor of those years when they get here."

Baker said this year, more Eureka High music students than ever before tried out for the All-District Music Honors program. She reminded all present that music students can achieve awards, just like All-State football athletes can.

Tuesday, the Ridge Meadows choir sang "We Go Together." The sixth grade choir from LaSalle Springs sang "Music!Music!Music!"

Eureka's mixed choir performed "Standing in the Light of Love," and the treble choir sang "Every Time the Music Starts." The mixed chamber choir sang "Hold Steady with the Gate," while the concert chorale did "Festival Exsultate." Onstage! performed a Earth, Wind & Fire medley. The treble choirs sang a complex "Riversong," which included instrumentalists John Arata, Philip Chandler, Matt Conrad, Audrey Herrington, Cassie Renner and Abraham Ward.

The choirs combined sang "Because We Sing" and "Together, Hand in Hand."

and choir students sang with the group during a second performance at 8 p.m. that evening.