Sixteen chamber singers from Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, a Great Hearts Academy, received valuable experience Wednesday before next week’s final exams.
The group visited the Grand Canyon University Recording Studio and took advantage of its numerous facilities.
“In a word, professional,” Robin Neely, Scottsdale Prep choir director, said of his students’ experience. “This is what takes them up a level, from high school choir to feeling like they are leaning into professionalism with their choral performances and their choral experience in general.”
The students learned every facet of the recording studio and performed as a choir, mixed in with solo acts for songs that included hits by Diana Ross and the Spice Girls.
“If you catch them in between (sets), you'll see some of them start dancing,” Neely said. “They're so excited they can't even keep their feet still. This experience is not only a momentary bringer of joy for them, but this is a lifelong memory that they cherish and look forward to and celebrate and want to show all their friends and family what they've accomplished.”
Neely became inspired last year to get a recording for his students, so he sent feelers via social media. It helped that Nealy conducted a choir with the Chandler Children’s Choir five years ago under executive director Aimee Stewart, who then recommended contacting GCU Recording Studio Manager Eric Johnson.
“It was one of the factors that got me interested in auditioning for choir and joining the choir, because I saw that last year, they had been able to record at GCU, and I thought that was just really cool and such a huge experience,” said Nila Kumara, a sophomore who has played piano for 12 years.
“In the future, I’ll be continuing music and doing as much as I can to stay involved.”
When Johnson wasn’t operating the studio equipment, he paused to interject positive feedback to the students.
The GCU recording studio experience was near the top moments of Sonja Blake’s time at Scottsdale Prep.
“It's been so awesome, getting to be in the studio with all my friends, and getting to do this music and really tune into aspects I never heard before,” said Blake, who plans to study piano performance at the University of Arizona next fall. “I didn’t realize how fine-tuned everything was.”
Neely believes this experience at GCU will give his underclassmen a positive vibe to the end of the school year, as well as “the momentum that we carry from this helps build the program for years to come.”
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at Mark.Gonzales@gcu.edu
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