April 2025 - Heck Yea, Most Improved!

Wow! What a wild and wonderful ride the past few weeks have been for the Vista Hills Chorus!  A few days after we submitted our last article, I got a text from our darling Director that was literally just a photo.  No context, no explanation, just the photo.  A photo of what, you may ask?  Her certificate of achievement announcing that she had passed the Directors Certification Program and attained the status of Certified Director.  Melanie is a regular reminder of what it means to lead and inspire. She has been with us a little under a full year, but we are quite proud to call her our own! We've decided to keep her for a while if she'll have us.  

And that was only the first exciting thing to have happened this month, in and amongst various rehearsals and discussions and slicktexts.  The second and fifth exciting things came in the form of contest weekend.  Most of us went to the very early morning mic testing chorus on Friday and stayed for as many quartets as we could before heading off to rehearsal; we even got back in time to cheer for our new regional quartet champions, including our friends in SoloVoce.  

Some of us may have stayed up a little late on Friday night, but Saturday morning came early and we were absolutely in the moment.  Taking the stage for the first time under Melanie's direction and with four brand new singers on stage was... intense? nerve-wracking? exciting?  Definitely emotional.  And being the first person in line, I had zero warning before Connie called my name as I walked on stage; if that didn't just about make my performance, I'm not sure what did.  There is something just downright thrillifying knowing you have friends in the audience as you walk on stage.  The energy and enthusiasm that greeted us carried us into one of our most successful competitions, a performance that earned us our first and long-coveted Most Improved medal with an incredible 101 point jump.  Breaking into the 500s, 2nd place in the A Division, and 5th overall left us a teensie bit starry-eyed.  Personally? I can't wait to see what happens next year. 

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