As choral directors work to prepare their choirs for concerts and competitions, a common practice is to invite a guest clinician to attend rehearsals for guidance and advice.

Over the past few weeks, the Seymour High School Varsity Chorale has brought in not one but three special clinicians from Indiana colleges as they prepare for the Indiana State School Music Association state qualifications taking place Saturday at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis.

Clinicians who have visited this month are Eric Stark from Butler University, Scott Buchanan from Indiana State University and Chris Albanese from Indiana University’s Singing Hoosiers.

Kyle Karum, SHS director of choral music, and Albanese met in the summer of 2013 at a University of Michigan choral conducting symposium and have remained friends.

Albanese visited the Varsity Chorale in Karum’s classroom on Wednesday. He is Pam and Jack Burks assistant professor of choral conducting and associate professor of music in choral conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

He directs the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers, of which Levi Croquart, a 2021 Seymour High School graduate, is a member.

Albanese said he had fun being a guest in the Varsity Chorale class Wednesday and was glad he had the opportunity to work with such a good group in this wonderful community.

“It’s always a challenge because you’re hearing a group for the first time, but I kind of observe through the warmup and see what some of their tendencies might be,” he said. “Today, we worked a lot with vowels and shaping the mouth and the throat to produce a vowel that’s optimal for unified sound and resonant sound.”

Albanese said he also listens to see if a choir is in tune and on time, and one of the hardest things to do is sing together in time with a group like this one of more than 40 people.

After rehearsal, the 49 student musicians in the Varsity Chorale had the opportunity to ask Albanese some questions.

Choir member Hannah Whitehead, who is interested in music therapy and music performance after she graduates high school, asked Albanese if he thought a double major in music would be worth it.

“I did a double major in music, and I’d say I’m utilizing both of my degrees,” he said. “It could take you into a fifth year, though.”

Albanese said some students really hustle and get through, but it’s a course-extensive major. Some music course classes overlap, but others don’t.

“If it’s your passion and you find a way to do something with it, I think it’s worth it,” he said. “You have to calculate out how long do I want to be in school and how long can I afford to be in school.”

Student Leonel Jimenez asked Albanese if he would sing something for them, so Albanese obliged and sang a couple of lines from an opera song.

Carter Wiesman asked for information about a music education degree at Indiana University. Albanese said there would be many courses to take with more specific topics for choral music education, and he said IU has expanded its coursework curriculum for nonmajors who are interested in taking music classes.

After the rehearsal, Karum said working with clinicians is a great way to experience new approaches to solutions and musicality.

“The clinicians we brought in are exceptional and renowned for what they do,” he said. “Each one brought with them their own style and strategies for issues that can occur in any music setting.”

Karum said they’ve brought in clinicians before, but this year, he brought in three to really ramp it up and give the kids a really good experience.

“The student musicians in Varsity Chorale will take new ways to address these issues in performance,” he said. “They will apply these methods at Franklin Central on Saturday at state quals in an effort to earn a higher score.”

More importantly, they will now carry with them new methods they can apply to their musical life and outside of their musical life, he added.

Karum said they will be singing three songs on Saturday: “The Blue Bird” by C.V. Stanford, “Flanders Fields” by Paul Aitken and “There’s Gonna Be a Homecomin’” by Kyle Pederson.

Bass section leader Carter Murphy said through the guest conductors, he has learned to get more out of his music, show more emotion and understand the music as the composer intended.

“I am feeling confident for this weekend. We have been practicing hard and have really grown as an ensemble, so my confidence is through the roof,” he said. “The best part of being in Varsity Chorale is having the ability to grow musically with fellow students and share in an experience like no other.”

Alto 1 section leader Haley Anderson said the biggest thing she believes they’ve learned from the guest conductors is to put the same energy into all of the songs they sing, whether they like them or not.

She said the best part of being in Varsity Chorale would have to be the atmosphere and the chemistry between everyone.

Carly Kaiser sings alto and said over her four years of being in choir, she’s beyond grateful for everyone supporting her.

“Choir is a great opportunity for people to get out of their comfort zone and try new things with the support for others,” she said.

Kaiser said she’s pretty excited about Saturday’s competition because they’ve been putting in a lot of hard work over the past couple of weeks, so she cannot wait to see how it pays off on the day of the performance.

“The song I like the best is ‘Flanders Fields,’” she said. “The different dynamics within the piece bring the piece to life and make it colorful.”

Baritone/bass singer Joshua Rennekamp said the guest conductors coming in to help prepare them has taught the choir some different techniques and ideas to add to the songs to improve them substantially.

“I am feeling quite confident with what our choir can do musically this weekend,” Rennekamp said. “My favorite song for the competition is ‘There’s Gonna Be a Homecomin’.”

He believes the best part about being in Varsity Chorale is the friendships you make and being able to be part of a group that is all trying to accomplish the same thing.

Christopher Vojkufka sings parts ranging from Tenor 1, highest tenor, down to baritone.

“The best part about being in choir is the ability to express ourselves artistically, make new friends, show off your own talents and build up new talents along the way,” he said. “Choir is more than just singing. It’s a family.”