There’s a new choir director in town. Ms. Cid arrived at the High this year, and she already has her students on the move.

Music Performance Assessment

This year the choir’s new director Ms. Cid took both her advanced (composed of 40 students) and her concert (composed of 51 students) choirs to the Music Performance Assessment (MPA) for the first time. MPA is an evaluation of how the choir is doing based on set standards by the Florida Vocal Association at the district and state level.

“There are 3 judges that evaluate our on-stage performance and a separate judge that evaluates how the choir sight-reads music,” said Ms. Cid.

The judges write down their own comments on paper, and the final evaluation as well as audio record suggestions, which can be a poor, excellent, good, fair or poor. “If a choir gets at least 2 superiors on stage and 1 superior on sight-reading, the choir can move on to state evaluation,” said Ms. Cid.

This year in their first time MPA appearance, the advanced choir got 1 superior and 2 excellents on stage and a superior in sight-reading, while the concert choir got 3 excellents on stage and a superior for sight-reading.

Other Events

The advanced choir this year has participated in many events, including the Acapella Festival at Lincoln Theatre in South Beach (October), caroling competition in Coral Gables (December 3rd), the All State conference in Tampa (January 11-14), solo competitions at M.P.A. (March 6), the Superintendent Honors festival held here at Miami High (March 23-25), and the spring concert at Miami High (May 23^rd).

The students in choir work and practice very hard to perfect every song that is given to them. When the choir has a chance to perform at an event, they spend extra time after school rehearsing the music. “The after-school rehearsals are from 2:30 to 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” said Ms. Cid.

Students in the Choir

The amount of time students have been in the choir varies. For example, Junior Kevin Martinez just recently joined this year, sophomore Crystal Pavon has been in it for 2 years, and senior Andy Peregrino has been in it for all 4 years.

The students like different things about the choir. For senior Bryan Montes, it is the bond between everyone in the choir.  Sophomore Melanie Millo said, “I like talking to Ms. Cid because she’s a lovely person to talk to.”

Many Miami High choir members began singing in high school. Sophomore Giannie Lopez added, “I started singing my freshmen year when I joined the choir, and I never thought learning music could be this fun.” Junior, Jonathan Rodriguez said, “When I joined choir in the 9^th grade is when I started singing, and it’s great because through singing you can show emotion expressed through different pieces.”

Indeed, there is a lot to like about being a singer. Senior Damaris Reyes said, “My favorite thing about singing is singing the right notes and creating harmony with everyone.” Junior, Katheryn Gallo added, “My favorite thing about it is being able to express yourself.”

MHS Choir Facts

• Cid is the new choir director; this is her first year teaching here at Miami High.
• The advanced choir is composed of 40 students, and the concert choir is composed of 51 students.
• The Music Performance Assessment (MPA) was the most anticipated event of the year.
• The choir has done a total of 7 events this year.