This weekend, hundreds of students from our region will gather here in Marion as part of the Indiana Music Education Association’s 34th annual Circle the State with Song festival.
Nearly 250 talented young singers from elementaries, middle schools, and junior high schools in Adams, Grant, Huntington, Kosciusko, Wabash, Wells, and Whitley counties will spend the day working with guest clinicians — a chance to build their skill as singers — and then will put on a special performance together.
This concert will start at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 11 on the main stage at the Walton Performing Arts Center at Marion High School, 750 W. 26th St.; it is open to the public, and tickets are $3 (free for ages 5 and younger). Tickets are available at the door, or will be available online soon at https://forms.imeamusic.org/csws/tickets/cswstickets1.php. (Tickets purchased online must be printed for admission.)
The festival, which is held at several different sites around the state, exposes young singers to new music and gives them the chance to have a choral experience quite different from the regular school class or performance. Altogether, about 5,000 students around the state typically participate in this annual festival series.
Elementaries and middle schools/junior highs participating in the Walton Center performance include Akron Elementary School, Allen Elementary School, Burris Laboratory School, Bluffton Harrison Elementary School, Crestview Middle School, Justice Intermediate School, Kendall Elementary School, Manchester Intermediate School, Manchester Junior-Senior High School, McCulloch Junior High School, Mentone Elementary School, Northview Elementary, Ossian Elementary School, Riverview Elementary School, R.J. Baskett Middle School, St. Paul Catholic School, South Adams Elementary, South Adams Middle School, and Wabash Middle School.
After weeks of practice on their own and at their schools, students will spend most of the day Feb. 11 rehearsing the concert selections with a guest clinician at Marion High School. At our region’s festival, the middle school clinician is Joshua Pedde, artistic director of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, and the elementary clinician is Aaron Riegle, Valparaiso High School choir director.
The Circle the State with Song began in 1989 as a choral festival for elementary students. In 1991 it expanded to middle school and junior high students. Not only does it provide students the chance to sing challenging choral pieces with peers from around the area, it also provides music teachers an opportunity to observe and learn from the clinicians, and to network with colleagues from around the area.
IMEA’s mission is to support and advance music education in Indiana by representing the united interest of music educators and students and by providing professional leadership and service in music education to enhance the arts in the schools.
The Marion Community Schools students participating this weekend are:
McCulloch Junior High
- Audrey Alsup
- Skylar Boogar
- Aliya Cruz
- Gracie Dixon
- Alaina Emert
- Mary Harris-Collins
- Grace Horne
- Lizzie Morgan
- Arabella Stanley
- Angeleah Garcia
- Heidi Harshman
- Mackenzie Herring
- Hannah Huff
- Maizey Kuch
- Manisha Markand
- Jethe Paduga
- RayAuna Rawls
- Brooklynne Smith
- Cora Topping
- Macey Wayman
- Tristen Hall
- Micah Hawkins
- Xavier Lavert
- Thomas Owen
- Colin Royse
- Adin Turner
Justice Intermediate School
- Addison Brooks
- Levi Craig
- Cymaura Dorsey
- Talean Guederian
- Payton Hardin
- Addison Hickman
- Emma Hoose
- Audrie Mendoza
- Alyssa Miller
- Penelope Myers
- Melanie Rodriguez
- Kayliana Rogers
- Linlee Greenwood
- Amayah Habegger
- Cecilia Hancock
- Molly Larson
- Kyletta Neal
- Jecca Paduga
- Jerome Pulliam
- Elisabella Ramirez
- C.J. Schnell
- Gregory Stanley
- Micah Wayman
Allen Elementary
- Lesleigh Bragg
- Charlee Cox
- Raimy Cox
- Angela Glaspers
- Xannya Harvey
- Ja'Niyah Hillman
- Amayah Morales-Tenorio
- Ryan Munoz-Morales
- Mayleighna O'Donnell
- Amariyae Tatum
- Eliana Tetactle
- KeKe Walker
Kendall Elementary
- Eleanor Runyan
Riverview Elementary
- Haylee Dixon
- Ameera Ferren
- Jack Freiburger
- Re'Onna Glasser
- Willow Guy
- Raleigh Jackson
- Alice Leonard
- Zoe Lewis
- Jordyn Manuel
- Victoria Martinez
- Hope McCain
- Elaine Morgan
- Harmony Pond
- Nyla Smith