The music departments in most schools are frequently underappreciated, so when our own Shades of Blue Choir has the opportunity to perform for all the choir directors in the district, it sheds much needed light on their success. 

All members of Shades of Blue have worked extremely hard to get to the level they are currently at, both as a group and individually. Senior Ali Stephens said, “It was actually one of my goals. Freshman year I had this plan. I’ll be in the women’s choir, sophomore year was Sapphire, junior year I was in concert choir, and then senior year, hopefully, Shades. I always looked up to them. I was like, ‘I want to be there. I want to sing those hard songs!’ Being a part of Shades really means a lot to me.” 

Members of Shades of Blue are devoted to representing the RVmusic department well, which they had the opportunity to do at the end of January. CMEA (Colorado Music Educators Association) is a conference for all choir directors in the state, and Shades was elected to take part in the conference.

It is a momentous occasion for RV. Just as senior Jack Howard said, “Each year, eight choirs from across the entire state are selected to perform at the conference, and it is seen as a great honor to do so. RV has only ever had one other year when Shades of Blue made it in.” Everyone involved has put in so much of their time and energy into making Shades of Blue the best they can be; especially for a performance such as the CMEA.

There isn’t any sort of ranking with the different choirs; it is a significant achievement to be a part of any choir at RV, not only for the students but the directors as well. 

Mr. Jeff Talley, one of the choir directors said, “It is a huge honor to teach kids that want to be a part of something really good, and something that is more important than each individual… It’s been an amazing experience for me as a teacher, even after this long, I was honored to stand on that stage with them on Saturday and I was honored to work on that music because it was a very high level of music. Most high school groups don’t sing that level of music, only the top groups that would be selected for something like this. I’m really, really honored to be the director of that group.” 

Shades being able to perform at the CMEA conference is an outstanding achievement for both the choir and Ralston Valley’s music department.