Four years ago, the women’s show choir at Franklin Community High School didn’t exist.
Heritage Singers, the school’s mixed choir, had just a dozen members in 2012. At the beginning of the school year, some members of the choir had never done a performance that required them to sing and dance at the same time.
After years of hard work, dozens more students joining the choirs and months of singing and dancing to one routine, both choirs have been named state champions.
Sensations and Heritage Singers competed at the small school division show choir finals through the Indiana State School Music Association during the weekend. They both snagged championships and caption awards for best vocals and best visual at the state finals.
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Show choirs at Whiteland Community High School also competed at state, with Expressions earning third place in the large school unisex division and Rhythm Masters earning fifth in the mixed division.
Franklin’s choirs are relatively new to competition.
Sensations came back after a hiatus three years ago, when Michael Hummel, choir director, decided to restart the women’s show choir. Heritage Singers was a tiny show choir a few years ago, boasting just 12 members. Together, they have earned the school’s first state championships in show choirs, Hummel said.
“We invested in it,” he said.
Girls interested in singing and dancing could have joined Sensations when it was restarted as a club about three years ago. Then, Hummel decided to make it a class after the numbers grew. Numbers for both of the show choirs kept growing.
Hummel knew he had something special, he said.
More than 100 students took the stage at the show choir championships. Enough students are interested in show choir, that a third show choir is being added for next year, Hummel said.
Participation in show choir allows the students to work together on one goal and see the growth they have made personally in less than a year, he said.
“They see their personal development as a student,” Hummel said.
Veteran show choir students were nervous about their competition season after participating in the fall show, the first show where students all sang together, said Abbie Daniels, a senior, and member of both choirs.
Some younger members had never sang or danced simultaneously. Others didn’t know the basics, such as how to point their toes or how to hold their arms and hands during a performance, she said.
They learned. And the show choirs both began racking up awards in their six-competition season.
Seeing the growth that all of the students made makes the double state title even more extraordinary, Daniels said.
“We just knew what we needed to work on,” she said. “It was a growing experience, definitely.”
Both choirs had hour-long rehearsals before their competition on Saturday. And after each rehearsal, Daniels knew both choirs could have the performances that would earn them state championships, she said.
“Everything was so clean, I just knew that something was about to happen,” Daniels said.
Members waited anxiously during the awards ceremony. Announcers counted back until they reached the winners. The wait was grueling, said Jaxson Deno, a senior member of Heritage Singers.
“It was ridiculous. It was a really awesome experience,” he said.
Deno joined Heritage Singers as a freshmen and watched the choir grow and mature to the championship choir it is now.
“We really were not amazing my freshman year,” he said. “Growing the group has been a really long journey.”
The growth took hard work, with students committing choir class time and after-school rehearsal time to make sure everything went perfectly, Deno said.
Doing more competitions helped entice some students to join. And the choir has custom costumes, choreographing and music arrangements too, Hummel said.
“(Show choir) just brings in a lot of kids who want to compete,” he said “A lot of kids want to be a part it.”
Directors began planning the shows last spring, with Hummel working with assistant directors, a choreographer and a costumer to make sure they built a show for each choir, Hummel said.
Students got a peek at the show they would be doing during camp in June. They committed to learning the dance and music and putting in the work needed to pull off the show, he said.
After nine months of work, the shows have produced state champions.
“Everyone is a starter. Everyone is one stage. Everyone plays, no one is a back up,” Hummel said.
