Photos by Rome City Schools
Jessica Kennedy, Choir Director, will once again lead Rome Middle School’s Grand Illusion Competition Show Choir Team.
Kennedy graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Shorter College and has a Masters of Music Education from the University of Georgia. This is her 16th year as an educator and she has spent the last three years at Rome Middle School. The reason she loves Rome Middle School is she has the ability to teach chorus and show choir exclusively.
Grand Illusion is Rome Middle School’s competition choir group. There are a total of 45 students who are members of the show choir and they practice twice a week after school. Their competitions start in January and they spend the beginning of the school year fine tuning their voices and routines.
Kennedy said, “All of the members of Grand Illusion are in chorus classes but are not necessarily together. We teach them music literature, how to sing scales and site read music during chorus. They then get to put all of those skills together in this program after school. Then, like a cheerleading squad, we take the show on the road and compete with other choirs.”
This year Grand Illusion will compete in three show choir competitions and one music competition that has a show choir category. Most of their competitions are in Alabama and they occasionally have one in South Georgia.
“We get go to these competitions and compete with a 20-minute show. There are costume changes, singing and dancing non-stop, and we usually have a girl and a boy feature. We prepare for these competitions by choosing music with our choreographer and using the time after school teaching them these routines,” said Kennedy.
The end-of-the-year music competition is a way Kennedy tries to incorporate a little fun into the trip. They collectively decide where they want to go and it’s usually a city with a lot of attractions. She wasn’t sure about this year’s destination, but she said her students are hoping to make it down to Florida. There is no better way to end a year of hard work than to celebrate with the people who make it all possible.
For those students who are interested in joining, applications can be found on the Rome Middle School website. An audition is required.
